Second Chances
by FFFfanfictionfanatic
Summary: Itachi never again expected to return to the leaf let alone with Deidara. I deleted the original first chapter and now this story is COMPLETELY finished. Please REVIEW. Maybe SEQUEL will have lemon scenes, no yaoi. Itachi&konoha, deidara & ino
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the first chapter of Second Chances. I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 1

'Neji, Hinata,' the silver haired jonin turned to the two Hyuuga and when they answered, he continued. 'You both stay here and keep an eye out. Use the radio to keep us up to date on the enemy and anything new.'

'Yes.' Both Hyuuga replied in unison. Kakashi nodded and turned to the rest of the squad.

They were quite a big squad, so in order for the mission to be a success Kakashi had to make sure the orders he gave them were made perfectly clear. 'The rest of you, don't forget the objective of this mission: to eliminate _Chikan Yutaka_ and rescue the prisoners. Anyone who attacks is to also be eliminated…' He lowered his voice darkly, a tone he doesn't normally use. 'The only survivors are the prisoners.'

Without a single sound the entire squad nodded. Chikan Yutaka was a wealthy man in the land of grass who had been abusing his power and wealth for years. There wasn't a ninja alive that wasn't aware of what went down at the Yutaka estate. Usually ninja wouldn't get involved in the lives of civilians-wealthy or otherwise- however, to understand the situation one needs to understand the connection between the family and the shinobi world. When evidence was leaked to several villages that the head of the Yutaka clan had been creating weapons of war and mass destruction, the villages decided to step in. And they did. Almost five years prior to this mission, Sunagakure dispatched specialists along with Konohagakure to eliminate the head of the clan, and with him dead they expected the problems to die away along with him.

They were wrong. If anything, the situation grew worse. It turned out that the clan head's son- who took the position of clan head when his father was assassinated- was just as bad…if not worse.

With several pleas flooding the Hokage's office daily from small towns across the country and small countries neighbouring the Fire Country to put a stop to the troublesome clan, Tsunade had no other choice than to finish the problem once and for all.

'Now, the mansion will be split into four parts. Gai; you, Lee and Tenten infiltrate the east side of the mansion. Kurenai, Kiba and Shino: you three move through the entrance and south side of the mansion. Asuma, you and your team move through the west side of the mansion and the ten of you all meet up at the back of the mansion when you are done. Only when you're all done; enter the dungeon below the back of the mansion: the north side of the mansion.' Kakashi paused.

'Naruto, Sakura, Sai and I will go straight to the dungeon where the prisoners are being kept. There will be a lot of prisoners and you will be shocked with what you see so prepare yourselves when you meet up with us in there…With all those people, the more help we can get, the better. Use your radio communications to keep in touch with everyone and report to me when you finish your section of the mansion. Neji and Hinata, make sure you tell them everything.'

With that everyone nodded and stood for a moment to prepare themselves. The jonin were already prepared for what was to come, however certain people in their squads needed a moment to prepare them-selves. For them, it would be the first time they would openly attack civilians.

After several minutes Kakashi turned to everyone and held his arm in the air signalling the mission was about to start. As he ripped his arm down slicing through the air he commanded, 'Begin!' and they all scattered to their designated areas.

xxxxx

_Cling. Clang._

Metal making hard contact with metal was heard throughout the halls of the west side of the mansion. Team Asuma worked efficiently together to eliminate their enemy as quickly as possible, running through the halls and protecting each other's backs as they claimed the lives of everyone they came across.

Human boulder. Shadow possession. Mind Body Disturbance Technique. Flying Swallow and Chakra Blade. All were being used in the elimination of the Yutaka clan and any other people there.

One by one the bodies fell. Occasionally Neji or Hinata would contact the team to give them directions and guide them through the never ending mansion but their attention was also focused on the other teams. Upper, lower and middle stories of the mansion were scoured through, no room left unchecked.

Suddenly Hinata's voice broke through their radios. 'Ino two doors down to your right, a faint chakra is in there. Don't miss it.'

Pressing her index finger to the button on her neck, Ino responded tiredly, 'Thanks. I'm on it.' And she killed the two men running towards her with knives by stabbing them in the heart before running into the room.

The sounds dimmed as Ino stepped further and further into the room. Its darkness would be a distraction and cause her to lose focus had the door been fully shut but a faint sniffling snapped her back to attention.

Forcing the uneasiness further down into the back of her mind, Ino pressed further into the room. 'Ino speed it up will'ya?' Shikamaru's voice broke through the silence.

She narrowed her eyes not bothering to respond, she walked closer to where the sound was coming from. Taking one step to many for the person hiding, a small movement caught her eye and she stopped.  
>Who are you? Was the most nagging thought in Ino's mind right now. But knowing she would have to kill the person, Ino wasn't sure she wanted to know who they were. Suddenly the figure hiding in the shadows launched towards Ino, the light shining through the half closed door illuminated the fearful but murderous intent in the person's eyes. But what struck Ino more than the intent to kill in the eyes of her opponent was the fact that they had a significantly smaller build than the opponents she had just killed.<br>He was a child.

Grabbing the wrist of the small child and disarming him, Ino stood in fearful shock. How could she kill a child?

She stared dumbly at the small boy as he let out angry, frustrated growls at her as he tried to struggle free from her grasp.

'Ino,' Hinata's soft, soothing voice broke through the silence again. 'Ino, it has to be done.'

Fighting back tears, Ino tore her gaze away from the boy and with one big, quick, merciful slice, the boy's head was cut clean from his shoulders: killing him…

xxxxx

The sound of the heavy metal dungeon doors slamming shut echoed throughout the dark, murky dungeon. Everyone jolted from the surprise. Prisoners locked in their cells turned their heads nervously as the footsteps of the guards pounded past them: a familiar sound of a body being dragged behind them was also heard, causing everyone's heads to bow from understanding.

Hearing his neighbour's cell door open and the body being tossed uncaringly and roughly to the hard concrete floor, Itachi sat up from his tattered fold out bed and waited for the guards to lock up and leave the dungeon. Then he crawled uncomfortably across his cell floor to the bars separating him from this neighbour.

His eyes narrowed at the bloody heap on the floor in front of him and as if the others who were watching could see the state of the boy, they all turned back to their beds to cry the rest of the night away.

_I think this is the worst yet…_ Itachi thought sadly as he continued to look at the unmoving boy on the ground. Suddenly the blonde boy stirred and painfully forced himself to his elbows to crawl military style to his bed at the back of his cell.  
>Seeing the boy's movements, hope filled Itachi that the boy may be alright, 'Psst. Deidara,' the teenager didn't even respond. He just lowered his head and continued to drag himself to his bed, 'are you alright?'<p>

The boy's head snapped up and his fierce blue eyes glared at Itachi, 'What makes you think I'm alright yeah?'

There was silence. Itachi knew that the boy wasn't alright. No one was. But he had to ask; the boy came in looking dead.

Itachi paused, 'Hmm, you looked dead….'

Deidara let out a frustrated and pained chuckle as he hauled himself onto his bed and positioned himself on his side so his back was facing the wall. 'Don't worry about me… Besides, the guards already checked, yeah…'

There was more silence and after several minutes Itachi finally spoke. 'Deidara?' He asked when the boy grew quiet.

There was no response. Only faint breathing alerted Itachi to the life left in Deidara, but even then it was waning. It definitely must have been the worst session yet. The teenager couldn't even fight off unconsciousness any longer.

Satisfied for now over his neighbour's health, Itachi limped back to his bed and lay on his side, clutching his ribs with his mangled arm and keeping his back to the cell door. That position was actually a very common position in the dungeons. In fact one could walk through the narrow walkway in the dungeon and almost every person in their cell had their backs facing the cell door.

This is because the prisoners realised that this particular position was an effective way to block out their surroundings and provide them with a temporary belief that they were in a better place.

Not even having to force his eyelids closed, Itachi soon began to fall into a deep and welcome sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 2

'Kakashi Sensei, we've almost reached the doors.' Sakura reported as she slew a guard coming at her. The whole team was surprised at how unguarded the underground dungeons were. They were at least expecting ten guards, but it seems that Chikan Yutaka wasn't concerned about his prisoner's as much as they thought he was.

As she was momentarily delayed by a guard, Naruto flew past her at great speed and kicked the door down off its hinges, revealing a dark and damp dungeon.

It was only barely lit by the dim electrical lighting that was pinned to the roof going down the walkway all the way to the opposite end of the dungeon. Naruto glanced around and saw cells running all along the walls of both sides of the dungeon and so many shocked and fearful faces inside the cells staring at him as he stepped further into the room. Behind him, Naruto heard Sakura growling at him for being so loud, 'Geez Naruto, did you have to break it off its hinges?' But he ignored her.

Quickly he went to work. One by one, Naruto opened the cell doors and encouraged the prisoners out of their prison. Quickly he realised that several people were injured so he made shadow clones to assist the injured in escaping. Making his way further towards the end of the walkway, Naruto kept freeing prisoner after prisoner: not even stopping when Sakura, Sai and Kakashi stepped into the dungeons to help out.

Just as Naruto was about three cells away from releasing all the prisoners, _he_ finally showed up. The man they had been looking for stupidly showed up in the dungeons. His face wore a twisted grin as he rested his fat arms across his oversized belly and watched the shinobi release his prisoners.

Beside the man stood two other men who wore evil expressions on their faces: both men's eyes pleaded for the satisfaction of killing.

'Leaf shinobi,' Yutaka laughed, drawing the attention of the prisoners-who started to slunk back into their cells- and the shinobi who paused and stared at him with anger in their eyes. 'So good to see you, it's been too long. Oh no, don't stop on my account. You're all doing such a wonderful job as it is. Destroying my mansion, killing my family, releasing all my prisoners… It can't be easy for you. So here,' Chikan turned to one of the men next to him who was holding a small item wrapped in sheets. He ushered for the man to then throw the parcel a few feet away so it landed in front of the female ninja. 'Here's a present for you from me to make your mission a bit quicker.'

Sakura knelt down over the concealed object and let out a gasp as she unravelled the parcel wrapped in sheets to reveal a small girl all bloodied and exposed.

Naruto growled at the man and promised a slow and painful death as he realised what was in the sheets. Sakura hurriedly worked to save the injured girl and Kakashi stood in front of her to back her up while she worked.

'Naruto, leave them to me. You go rescue the other prisoners and take them outside. Hinata and Neji will direct them from there.' Kakashi barked when he saw Naruto's anger rising. The young teenager had a habit of letting his emotions make the decisions…and they were never good ones.

Frustrated; Naruto turned away from the men and continued to free the prisoners.

Finally he reached the end. The second last cell- the cell just before this one- had the worst looking prisoner in it. Not that the prisoner was ugly, it was the fact that the poor guy had been beaten so badly that:

He wasn't recognizable as human, and

His entire body seemed to be hurt, making it almost impossible to move him. It didn't help either that the guy was unconscious which made him heavy and awkward to carry.

In order to move that person, Naruto had to have one of his shadow clones to carry him piggyback style. But there was something odd about this person…Apart from the fact that no matter what position Naruto placed the guy on when he was on his back, he was still awkward and felt wrong: this guy had something _very_ familiar about him.

His shadow clone waiting outside of the last cell for him, Naruto quickly broke down the cell door and walked over to the silent prisoner and gently placed an arm on the guy's shoulder to get his attention.

Immediately the guy spun around and stared at Naruto in shock. Naruto also was staring and it was a mixture of different emotions. Barely able to get the words out of his mouth Naruto stood dumbfounded, 'Itachi?' He gasped in disbelief. Itachi's eyes widened in surprise; what was Naruto doing here of all places?

Naruto's eyes narrowed sadly as he processed Itach's health state. 'Come on.' Naruto said, pulling Itachi's arm around his shoulders to support him. He stopped abruptly when Itachi let out a pained cry and moved his mangled arm as tightly as he could around his abdomen. Broken ribs. Naruto sighed and slung Itachi onto his own back so he was carrying him. This sudden movement made Itachi silent from shock. He was being carried?

'Naruto,' Itachi leaned closer to Naruto awkwardly in an attempt to make carrying him easier for Naruto. 'Why don't you just leave me here?'

'Why do you always ask stuff like that? Even though you did all those horrible things, you still don't deserve to be in this disgusting place.' Naruto growled angrily at Itachi and walked out of the cell to meet up with his clones and his team mates.

When he reached Sakura and Kakashi he noticed the two ninja lying dead on the ground near Kakashi's feet, and his sensei and Sakura were leaning over the small child sadly. She was dead. With nothing else he could do but walk closer, Naruto now saw how bruised and battered the small child was. There was silence, apart from Sakura's small sobs every few seconds.

The silence was interrupted with Itachi whispering close to Naruto's ears. 'A child…They never survive long.'  
>His voice didn't sound mocking or sinister at all. He sounded like he was trying to supress tears so Naruto just turned away from the devastating sight and carried Itachi outside to the others.<p>

xxxxx

Two hours later all the prisoners and Konoha ninja on the mission were gathered in a small clearing in the forest near the mansion. The shinobi were planning on walking further away from the mansion than they had but the prisoners were in no state to be walking around too much. The majority of the prisoners that were walking were exhausted soon after the shinobi set the mansion a blaze and left it behind for the forest.

With the prisoners resting and night closing in around them, the shinobi decided to place the prisoners who they were piggy backing, on the ground comfortably so they could finally tend to their injuries. But with so many injured people, Sakura, Ino and Hinata were soon exhausted themselves.

The remaining prisoners to be healed were all gathered around the clearing, comforting one another that their nightmare would soon be over and they would be reunited with their families. Kakashi, Gai and Asuma had started three fires around the centre of the clearing and many people were gathered closely around them to absorb the heat. Off to one side of the clearing Sakura, Ino and Hinata worked tiredly trying to heal the most severely wounded prisoners. With them and the unconscious ones laying on fold up mats, they were kept to the side of the make shift campsite as the three kunoichi worked to save them.

Naruto had decided to place Itachi close to where Sakura was working so that the guy can be monitored and treated at the same time. Although no one really had a chance to examine his health state, anyone who looked at him could already imagine to a certain degree the extent of his injuries.

His left arm was completely snapped in half and he had to hold it with his other arm whenever he tried to move it. His right wrist was also sprained or fractured, but it would have to be closer examined to see what was really wrong with it. A few of his ribs were obviously broken or fractured by the way he refrained from anything physical and let out a pained moan whenever he did move. And on top of all those injuries, the ninja were shocked at seeing Itachi's legs. Both were horrendously snapped in half/ or possibly in several places. But the shocking thing was that they had already started to heal, so he was able to stumble weakly and _very_ painfully on them if he desperately had to.  
>Confronting bruises riddled his body: colours of yellow, green, purple and blue.<p>

Sakura had noticed Itachi, and was frightened slightly to see a member of Akatsuki there, but she quickly calmed down when she noticed his injuries. Her main focus was on the unconscious young teenager- roughly aged 18/ 19- in front of her. He had shown no sign of waking since they found him and his condition looked the worse out of all the prisoners which is exactly why he was given to Sakura.

The young blonde had so many injuries that Sakura just worked to make sure he was stable enough to transport to Konoha hospital.

Finishing as much as she could on the teenager, Sakura's attention shifted to Itachi and she walked over to him nervously. 'Umm…'

Itachi looked up at her and managed a small smile to encourage her to speak. 'Don't fear me; I cannot use any jutsu right now.'

Sakura visibly relaxed, but not so much so that she wasn't on guard. Kneeling down in front of Itachi, Sakura began to examine his state of health and realised that there wasn't much she could do. They were all injuries that required several months to heal, not something that she could heal on the spot.

Needing a moment's rest, Sakura sat down next to Itachi so they were both facing the campsite and the prisoners who were nodding off to sleep if they weren't asleep already. 'Itachi?'

'Hmm?'

Sakura's eyes narrowed, she wanted to understand exactly what had happened. Her superiors knew, but the rest of the squad were left in the dark. As far as they knew, Chikan Yutaka was just a monster who created weapons and conducted experiments. 'Firstly, why are you here?' Sakura felt nervous asking. She didn't mean to pry in nightmarish memories, but she felt it was necessary.

Itachi's eyes narrowed angrily, 'We were sparring one day near our base… The fool just didn't know when enough was enough, so pretty soon we were almost out of chakra…I guess they were waiting and we didn't even know it…Genin mistake. They attacked us and we were too exhausted to fight for very long so they overpowered us quickly…'

'…I-I'm sorry…' Sakura mumbled, almost low enough for Itachi to not even hear.

'No. Don't apologise…It was his fault not yours.' Sakura's eyes widened suspiciously at that moment. Who was _he_?

She decided to ask him just that. He paused for a moment and then turned his head in the direction of the unconscious blonde boy that Sakura had just finished treating. 'Him. You've met him… Deidara, he is also a member of Akatsuki like me.'

'What?' Sakura gasped. 'How many Akatsuki are here?' She asked surprised.

Itachi turned back to her and let out a dark laugh, 'Just the two of us… I haven't heard from the others for nearly two months.'

She wasn't expecting this. No one had any idea that they would stumble across S-class criminals on their mission, let alone Itachi Uchiha and Deidara.

'Umm, I don't mean to bring up bad memories… But what did they do to you all in there?' Sakura asked innocently. Itachi wasn't angry at her for her questions; in fact it was good to talk. For nearly two months, the only talking he had done was screaming and cursing his captors.

'They did lots of different things.' Itachi pointed a finger over to a small group of young teenage girls huddled together near one fire. They looked nervous and scared, and welcomed the company of the kunoichi whenever they talked to them, but showed great discomfort when around the men. 'Chikan Yutaka had a person for each of his moods. Those girls over there were for when he favoured a woman's company.' His finger moved through the air and paused, directed at a group of small children. 'Sometimes he preferred a child…But they never survived long so to prevent many bodies from piling up, Yutaka savoured children as a delicacy.' Itachi's finger moved again through the air, directing Sakura's attention to all the other prisoners who were all young males ages 14-25. 'And Yutaka's favourite…Young males… I am sure you can imagine what he did to everyone, but there were some times when he would want something totally different.' Itachi paused and looked at Sakura to see if she wanted him to continue.

She looked up at him, begging him to continue. 'What do you mean?'

He looked away again and continued. 'Well, some times what he wanted would require a certain person; only some people can handle what he thinks up…' He paused again. 'He liked to test out his new torture techniques in case he captured an enemy… And the people he loved to test those out on were me and another guy…But he died nearly a week ago. Yutaka had his favourites for particular things. For instance, I was his favourite when it came to torture and experiments; probably because I wouldn't die so easily. Deidara was his favourite toy overall though… The idiot. I always told him that that big mouth of his would get him in trouble.'

Sakura yelped from shock and quickly covered her reddening face. Surprised and clueless Itachi turned to Sakura and thought about what he had just said for a moment. Then it hit him and he let out an embarrassed laugh. 'Oh no no no! Nothing like that. I mean Deidara would just scream and swear all the time and I guess Yutaka liked that sort of thing.' Itachi thought he cleared that up pretty well.

Sakura's face only reddened more and she shook her head to cool it off. 'I-I'm sorry b-but you are only m-making it worse!' She begged him to change the subject and there was an awkward silence before Naruto came over to see why Sakura was blushing so bad.

'Oh no, I don't think I can explain it Naruto. Just drop it.' Sakura fussed and continued to calm herself down.

With the most critically injured prisoners tended to, the shinobi decided to split the group up as soon as they reached the next town. All the able prisoners were to remain at the town where they would find their way home because they didn't need the shinobi any more, while the more critical and severely injured prisoners were to be carried and rushed to the Hidden Leaf Village by the shinobi.

Over all it was twelve out of the initial one hundred prisoners that needed to be carried back to the village, while the others only had minor or no injuries and could be left in the town to find their families and get on with their lives.

The shinobi divided up the prisoners and who was going to carry them evenly so that the ones who weren't carrying prisoners were Sai, Tenten, Choji and Shino, who were all responsible for defending the entire group should something or someone attack them on their journey home. All the others were carrying the prisoners based on their strength. For instance, Ino was carrying a young underweight girl who had been severely beaten and was stabilized enough for the journey. That girl would have to be healed better when they got back to the hospital. Kakashi was carrying Itachi because of Itachi's status as a criminal. And Asuma was carrying Deidara who even though he was unconscious and showing no signs of waking while they were on their trip, was still a high ranking criminal who needed to be watched with caution.  
>The others in the group were carrying prisoners who weren't of any threat.<p>

Piggybacking the prisoners, the ninja jumped from tree branch to tree branch in a race to get the injured back to the village.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Naruto so he jumped forwards so he was at the front of the group so he could talk with Kakashi. 'Hey Kakashi Sensei?'

'Hmm?' Kakashi turned his head to face Naruto. Itachi- who had been sleeping on Kakashi's back- stirred, so both ninja spoke quieter. Even though Itachi was a criminal, the poor guy needed rest.

'Will the hospital back home have enough beds for all these people on such short notice?' Naruto asked.

Kakashi smiled reassuringly through his mask and turned back to face the path in front of him, 'Don't worry Naruto. I already sent Pakkun to tell Lady Tsunade about the prisoners who are coming.'

Naruto thought about that for a minute, then was thankful for Kakashi's summoning animals. 'Wow, good thinking Kakashi Sensei.' Naruto smiled.

'Naturally.' Kakashi nodded jokingly.


	3. CHapter 3

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 3

The sound of heels clacking quickly echoed through the hallways of the Hokage mansion as Shizune hurried to the Hokage's office.

Finally reaching the office, Shizune burst through the door into the room and huffed for breath quickly before reporting to the Hokage. 'Lady Tsunade, Teams Kakashi, Asuma, Gai and Kurenai have returned from their mission with the Yutaka Clan prisoners. They are admitting them into the hospital.'

'Excellent, and about time.' Tsunade rose from her desk chair and walked confidently out of the office door. 'I am going to go check it out.'

Shizune started to panic, 'W-wait, what about all the paperwork?'

Tsunade continued to walk and waved her hand dismissively, 'Ah, don't worry about it. I will do it later.'

Shizune groaned in frustration. She couldn't stop the Hokage, so all that she could do was follow her to the hospital.

xxxxx

Tsunade flipped through the medical sheets of both Akatsuki members, receiving another dose of shock and surprise each time she looked at them. She hadn't expected to find Itachi and Deidara at the mansion and she especially didn't expect them to be so badly injured. Both boys had serious injuries, but it seemed that out of the two Deidara was the worst.

The head of the medical core spoke first in reference to Itachi's injuries, 'Lady Hokage, it seems that we will have to re-break Uchiha-san's legs and mould casts on them because they healed wrong.' The Uchiha had no idea of the conversation because he had been asleep the whole time since before they entered the village.

Tsunade tossed Itachi's medical chart on his bed and held Deidara's in the air for the doctor to notice. 'Itachi's injuries are nowhere near as serious as Deidara's.' Tsunade turned to point at the blonde who was lying unconscious in the hospital bed. '_He_ is our priority at the moment.'

The medic nodded and exited the room only to be replaced by an unexpected visitor.

'Well well well.' The familiar voice broke through Tsunade's thoughts.

'What now?' Tsuande grumbled resulting in the man laughing.

'Hey, I was just stopping by to check on how Naruto's going.' He held his hands in the air defensively.

'He's not here but while you're here, why don't you make yourself useful, Jiraiya?'

'What do you want me to do?' Jiraiya glanced at the two unconscious Akatsuki members in the room. He already had an idea of what she was going to ask him to do.

'I need you to watch these two.'

Although he knew she was going to ask that, Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. 'Don't you have ANBU for that?' Actually, two ANBU were stationed outside the room's door in the hallway already.

Tsunade walked close to Jiraiya and leaned up to his ear, 'I don't trust them with _those two_.'

Jiraiya's gaze darkened, 'Understood.' And Tsunade smirked and walked back to Deidara's bed so she was beside it. She then began to read over the notes again. As Jiraiya walked over to Deidara's bed so he was standing beside Tsunade, the Hokage pulled the sheets down to the unconscious boy's ankles so they could examine the injuries and strange markings littered across his body.

Deidara was still wearing the clothes that he was found in as well as many of the other ex-prisoners because the hospital staff hadn't had the time to change them since they all came in with serious injuries. His grey t-shirt had many stains on it and small rips and tears on it. He was also wearing black knee length tattered shorts. Both his shirt and shorts hung loosely on his underweight body.

Tsunade examined the boy thoroughly, taking notes every so often on Deidara's medical chart. His right arm, his left arm. They both showed similar bruising around the wrists and upper arms. This didn't surprise Tsunade; she already knew what went on inside the walls of that mansion.

Jiraiya watched as Tsunade studied the boy's injuries. He also watched as Tsunade gathered her green chakra in her hands and hovered it closely over Deidara's hips and hip joints before pulling her hands away and scrambling a few more notes on the chart and looked at the unconscious boy's face.

'What is it?' Jiraiya asked, noticing Tsunade's frustrated and sad look.

Tsunade sighed and pointed to Deidara's hips. 'Both his hips are dislocated. It isn't very common for a boy his age to have his hips dislocated…And another thing, it looks like his legs were pulled _down_ out of the hip socket…Strange… It is definitely going to be painful rehabilitation for him. Also he's probably suffering from some psychological trauma or something, so most likely, he will be out for a few days, months, possibly even years. It will depend on him.'

Jiraiya just nodded and continued to glance over the injuries on the boy. 'What else?' He asked finally.

Tsunade frowned while she was thinking and she continued to examine the boy. She found dozens of cuts and scratches on the boy's body along with many bruises. But what got Tsunade's attention the most was the strange markings that were documented in the medical chart on the diagrams of the boy's abdomen. Even Jiraiya was concerned by it and he knew very little in the medical field. They looked at his abdomen and didn't find the marking so Tsunade flipped back to the medical chart. _It says while the medical ninja was healing his cuts on his stomach, a symbol appeared as it reacted to their chakra. I wonder…_

Tsunade focused her chakra to her hand and gently hovered it over the boy's abdomen. Immediately the symbol appeared. Tsunade frowned as she examined it and she heard Jiraiya grumble something beside her as he leaned further in to get a better look.

The reason they were so concerned was the fact that it wasn't an injury or wound and it appeared to be chakra infused onto the boy. It was a seal. Dark lines-similar to ink drawings- were on the boy's abdomen. Closer inspection of the markings revealed to Tsunade and Jiraiya the word _seal_ scrawled messily on the boy's abdomen in hiragana characters.

Tsunade thought about that for a moment and then spun around to Itachi who was on the other bed and pulled up his shirt. Focusing her chakra to her hand again, Tsunade waved it over his abdomen to reveal the same symbol on Itachi's abdomen.

'I wonder…' Tsunade though out loud. 'Ox!' Tsunade called for the ANBU outside the room and they responded immediately by entering the room and waiting for Tsunade to give them an order. 'Ox, go find Neji Hyuuga and tell him it's an emergency.'

'Yes.' And the ANBU was gone.

'Got an idea?' Jiraiya asked suspiciously.

'Perhaps.' Tsunade frowned further, studying the seal on Itachi even more.

xxxxx

Neji had shown up nearly half an hour ago. During that time several other people turned up and some- like Kakashi Hatake, Jiraiaya and the elders- had decided to stay to hear the outcome of Neji's investigation on the seal.

Finally Neji had seen enough and he deactivated his byakugan to turn to the Hokage. 'They both have no chakra that is the level of a shinobi running through them. It's like they have the same chakra level as a civilian or academy student…No, not _even_ an academy student. At least academy students have some level of chakra that allows them to perform basic level jutsu. By the looks of it, these two can't perform _any_ jutsu at all. Are you sure these two are Akatsuki?'

Tsunade and everyone in the room sighed from relief; at least there could be fewer guards now that they knew Deidara and Itachi weren't a threat.

Kakashi spoke next, 'Yes. Those two are definitely Itachi Uchiha and Deidara, both members of Akatsuki.'

Jiraiya turned to Kakashi, 'I don't think they are Akatsuki anymore. If I am not mistaken, Akatsuki are made up of high level shinobi criminals who can wield dangerous jutsu or kekkei genkai. I don't think Akatsuki will take these two back.'

'You might be right.' Tsunade spoke, crossing her left arm across her abdomen and raising her right hand under her chin in deep thought. 'But Neji, I want you and the Intelligence core to figure out more about those seals. Jiriaya I want you to remain here and report to me as soon as one or both of them wake up.' Tsunade turned to the elders who consisted of Danzo, Homura and Koharu who were standing close to the door. 'And you three over there. I suppose I should involve you in this somehow otherwise I am going to hear about it later…' Tsunade thought about what to get them to do for a moment. 'I know. Why don't you three get me all of Itachi Uchiha's old medical records…wait no. Get me _all_ of his records.'

Homura and Koharu both froze for a moment at what Tsunade had ordered them. But because the Hokage didn't know what they were afraid of, they decided to act cool and leave without saying a word. Danzo followed shortly behind.

No one in the room noticed Tsunade frown distrustfully as the three elders left.

Neji shifted on his feet a bit and spoke up, 'I will go gather the intelligence team to get to the bottom of this right away.' And he exited the room, not even waiting for the Hokage to respond.

For several minutes the Hokage, the toad Sage and the copy ninja were all silently standing in the room. Then just as Jiraiya opened his mouth to say something they all tensed because Itachi began to stir.

Tsunade moved slightly closer to Itachi and folded her arms as she watched him sluggishly open his eyes. 'Itachi?' Itachi didn't answer, but he turned his head in the direction of the voice. 'Itachi you are in Konoha Hospital. My name is Tsunade, I'm-'

'The Hokage.' Itachi mumbled, swallowing hard because of his dry mouth. 'How long was I out?'

'A couple of hours since you were brought here.' Itachi's eyes were unfocused as he scanned the room trying to take in the image. 'Itachi is there something wrong with your vision?' Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow after noticing Itachi's gaze bounce around the room not focusing on anything in particular.

'Umm…I can't see. Everything is blurry.' Tsunade's guess was right so she moved over to Itachi and placed her hand over his shut eyes and focused her chakra on them; healing them. 'How long have your eyes been like this?' She asked suddenly. Only when she started assessing his eyes was Tsunade able to fully realise that the damage to his eyes had been a build up over the years.

When Tsunade pulled her hand away from his eyes after he attempt at healing them she then told him not to open them for a day and she wrapped a bandage around the circumference of his head to cover his eyes.

When she was finished Itachi spoke, 'It's been getting worse for a while…I guess it's because of the mangekyo sharingan…Over using it.'

Tsunade wasn't expecting that. She imagined it to be because of fighting or something but not his kekkei genkai.

Tsunade turned to Jiraiya and Kakashi, 'You will both stay here now and watch these two. Find out as much as you can.' Tsunade then turned back to Itachi and with an amused smile said, 'Oh and Itachi, we will have to re-break both of your legs.'

Kakashi and Jiraiya were slightly confused about what she wanted them to "find out", but they accepted their assignment none the less and pulled up a chair each as Tsunade left; Itachi lay in the room in silence. He wasn't looking forward to what awaited him.

'So-uh…'Jiraiya began after several minutes of silence. 'How did you end up in a place like the Yutaka mansion?'

It was a pretty basic question. Obviously they had both been captured.

The blindfolded Itachi turned his head in the direction of Jiraiya's voice and replied. 'First, where is Deidara?'

'He's in another bed to your left.' Jiraiya responded. Itachi nodded satisfied.

'The idiot drained both our chakra and we were captured. Not even a genin would make a mistake as stupid as the one he made.'

Jiraiya laughed inwardly at the thought. For some reason Deidara reminded the toad sage of Naruto.


	4. Chapter 4

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 4

Two days had passed since the two young injured Akatsuki were emitted into Konoha hospital and there was already tension being built up in the village because of it. Originally the plan was to keep their identities a secret, however, the slip up of a particular inexperienced nurse at the hospital had resulted in the news to be spread around the village like wild fire.

Kakashi and Jiraiya definitely weren't allowed to leave their posts after that.

Even though Deidara hadn't woken up, Tsunade had to make contact with the Tsuchikage. Around five hours since the boys were treated; Tsunade sent a message to the Tsuchikage to inform him of Deidara and the boy's medical state. Tsunade also told the Tsuchikage that Deidara had a strange seal on him that prevented him from using his chakra or performing jutsus.

In response to Tsunade's letter, the Tsuchikage decided to send two representatives on his behalf to Konoha to assess the situation.

Kurotsuchi and her younger sister Kimutsuchi happened to be said representatives. Both girls, although polar opposites, shared one same similarity: their grandfather is the Tsuchikage, Onoki.

Xxxxx

Jiraiya's low snoring echoed through the room as he slept on the spare chair. Itachi was sound asleep on his side; his back facing the still unconscious Deidara. The moonlight seeped through the thin closed white curtains and a small warm breeze blew through the window pushing the curtains back daintily.

Kakashi sat on another chair in between the two criminal's beds while he quietly read Icha Icha Paradise. His leg was swung over his other leg and his hands were resting in his lap with the adult book open and pointed upwards to him as he leaned against the wall behind him comfortably. Finishing another paragraph, Kakashi felt his eyes dry and sore so he looked up at the clock in the room. 'Six past Two.' Kakashi sighed.

'Arh' Kakashi heard a wincing coming from his left and sat up straight in his chair as he leaned over to get a better look at the blonde. Slowly, the blonde tried to move his legs again but found he couldn't. 'Nnn.' He struggled and Kakashi stood up, pushing the seat back. Kakashi winced a bit himself when the chair legs made a noise against the **linoleum** floor. Kakashi fixed his gaze on the blonde boy's face and ignored Jiraiya's brief confusion as he was jolted out of his sleep by the noise.  
>Seeing Kakashi standing over the blonde boy's bed, Jiraiya stood up and walked over to them. He quickly flashed his eyes over to Itachi but brought his attention back to Kakashi and Deidara when he saw the Uchiha was still asleep. 'What's the matter?' Jiraiya asked, looking at Deidara.<p>

Deidara stirred again but this time one of his blue eyes cracked open slightly. Under the sheets Deidara's hand twitched as he was slowly getting control over his body movements again.  
>His eyes widened when he looked at the two silhouetted men standing over him and he tried to shift away from them but found a wall. 'Calm down kid. You're in a hospital.' The tallest silhouette spoke to Deidara in an attempt to calm him down. Deidara's breath, which had been quickening up until the man spoke, had calmed down and he shifted around so he was comfortable again. He stared up at the two men.<p>

'Can I have some water?' Deidara asked. Kakashi and Jiraiya stepped back from the bed and Kakashi reached to his left for the jug of water and glass on the bedside table next to Deidara's bed. Both men listened to Deidara as he spoke again in his cracked and scratchy voice as Kakashi handed him the glass. 'Thanks yeah.'  
>Deidara held the cup in his hand but he couldn't find the strength to sit up to drink it. To his surprise, a strong hand reached under his head and helped him into a sitting position. Deidara winced as a shot of pain coursed through his body, but pulled his face together determinedly as he took a sip of the cool liquid. Kakashi and Jiraiya waited as the boy drank half of the glass's contents and Kakashi set his head back down on the pillow. 'What happened?' Deidara's sore voice broke through the silence after a minute.<p>

'On our mission to the Yutaka mansion we found you and Itachi Uchiha so we took you back to our village.' Kakashi informed. Deidara was beginning to feel tired again but fought it off with a sudden feeling of dread.

'A-And what village is that yeah?' Deidara coughed as his throat struggled again.

'Konoha.' Jiraiya replied. 'Our Hokage hasn't decided what to do with you two yet but some she has healed some of your injuries. Bear in mind, she has contacted the Tsuchikage and you'll probably be executed as a criminal as soon as you're well enough for a trial and transportation back to Iwagakure.'

There was more silence in the room and Jiraiya and Kakashi though Deidara had gone back to sleep. Then just as Jiraiya and Kakashi were about to resume their positions on their posts, they heard a soft sniffling coming from Deidara. The two men frowned suspiciously but their faces relaxed when Deidara spoke again, '…Anything's better than that place yeah…Thank you.'

Itachi listened as the two ninja remained silent and moved back to their seats. The two men didn't know Itachi was awake so he never moved and kept his eyes shut, but all three men listened to Deidara's quiet sobbing until he cried himself back to sleep. Itachi pinched his eyes further together frustratedly and breathed a sigh through his nose when he heard Kakashi sit down and pull his book out. '…Quarter to Three…' He heard Kakashi sigh and resume reading.

xxxxx

The two Iwagakure kunoichi followed Tsunade through the clean halls of Konoha hospital. Kurotsuchi walking calmly and confidently, one hand placed on her right hip, the other swaying back and forth as she walked. Kimutsuchi on the other hand was practically skipping through the corridors of the hospital, her hands behind her back happily, humming to herself.

Both girls had black hair. Kurotsuchi had short black hair and pupil-less black eyes while Kimutsuchi had long black hair that fell to her butt when it was out: it was tied tightly in a high ponytail at the back of her head, her pink pupil-less eyes scanning everything happily. Both girls wore symmetrical red kimono's (Kurotsuchi's right sleeve missing while Kimutsuchi's left sleeve missing) with- Kurotsuchi- the right sleeve missing along with the bottom left side of it: and for Kimutsuchi, her kimono's left sleeve is missing while the bottom right side is as well. Underneath both girls kimonos are fishnet tights and on top of both kimonos are the brown Iwagakure flak jackets. Over the top of the fishnet tights-but underneath the flap of the bottom of the kimono's- were (for Kurotsuchi) short red shorts and (for Kimutsuchi) a short red skirt. Both girls sported their Iwagakure headbands across their forehead.

When they reached a white sliding door at the far end of the hospital, Tsunade stopped them and gave them a quick run-down on the situation. 'Itachi Uchiha is awake but don't talk to him. You're here to investigate Deidara. At about 2 AM this morning he was awake for the first time since he's been here but he was only awake for around an hour and went back to sleep at around 3:00 this morning. Please don't try to wake him, if you have any questions we will answer them but his condition was the worst out of all the people brought here so he needs his rest.' Tsunade finished and both the girls nodded. Her hand on the door handle, Tsunade paused for a moment as the images from that morning when Deidara woke up, filled her mind.

Tsunade turned and opened the door to reveal Jiraiya sitting on the thin veranda roof outside of the open window and Kakashi sitting on a chair in front of both teenagers' beds. Both men turned their heads to look at the new visitors and stood respectively when they saw the Hokage: Jiraiya came back into the room with a bored look on his face.  
>The two girls looked to their right as they entered the room and on the bed closest to the window they saw a dark haired young man playing a board game by himself; and as they stepped further into the room they turned further to their right and saw Deidara sleeping peacefully in his hospital bed beside the wall opposite the window.<p>

Both girls gasped when they saw him. Kurotsuchi, because she hadn't seen Deidara for years and thought of him as an older brother and someone she highly respected. Kimutsuchi, because she was probably Deidara's biggest fangirl and seeing him sent her into overdrive. Immediately- and ignoring Tsunade's previous words- Kimutsuchi rushed over to Deidara before anyone could grab her and threw herself on top of his sleeping body, hugging him tightly. Deidara's eyes flew open at the sudden impact and he immediately grabbed at whatever it was that was tightly holding his neck.

To his alarm, when the girl on top of him lifted her head from his chest, he discovered it was his number one fan… Kimutsuchi.  
>Deidara gulped when he saw the girl's whimpering, red face; her tears in her eyes pouring down her face and landing on him. 'K-K-Kimutsuchi, what they hell are you doing here, yeah?' Deidara tried to scream but his voice squeaked when it cracked from the strain, it was still sore.<p>

Hearing his voice for the first time in years, Kimutsuchi wailed and wrapped her arms around Deidara even tighter. 'I've missed you so much Dei-chan!'

Deidara growled and snapped at her, 'I told you not to call me that!' He growled from frustration, his voice wavered for a moment as he tried to keep his struggling voice steady.

Kimutsuchi completely ignored what Deidara said and continued to blubber. 'Dei-chan! You've left me for so long, I want your babies!'

Everyone in the room went quiet and Kurotsuchi slapped her palm on her forehead embarrassed by her sister. Deidara was completely grossed out but was so shocked at what Kimutsuchi said that he just lay stiff on his bed; his usually tanned skin slowly turned a sickly pale. Thankfully Jiraiya stepped in. Walking over to the two teens Jiraiya wrapped one of his strong arms around Kimutsuchi's waist and pulled her away from the stunned Deidara.

'I think he's had enough.' Jiraiya laughed, placing Kimutsuchi on her feet next to her sister, but placing a strong hand on her shoulder in case she decided to latch onto Deidara again.

Kurotsuchi turned to her sister angrily and slapped her on her exposed cheek. 'You _idiot_!' She yelled at her shocked little sister. 'You were told not to wake him. Go wait outside before you cause more trouble.' Kimitsuchi's face fell and she let her hair hang over her wet and reddening face and without saying a word, Kimutsuchi nodded and bowed apologetically to Deidara before leaving the room to wait outside.

Kurotsuchi turned to Tsunade after Kimutsuchi shut the door behind her, 'So what is it you told my grandfather about Deidara not being able to use chakra.'

Tsunade nodded and moved beside Deidara's bed and lifted his shirt up to his chest and focusing her chakra to her hand to reveal the seal so Kurotsuchi could understand, completely ignoring Deidara's protests and complaints about personal space and privacy.

Immediately upon seeing the seal on Deidara's abdomen, Kurotsuchi's brow furrowed and she touched it lightly to examine it. Both women were ignoring Deidara's frustration as his body suddenly tense under Kurotsuchi's touch and his face reddened like a tomato. _This is so embarrassing. I wish they'd go away yeah!_

'Is this permanent?' Kurotsuchi asked. Tsunade nodded and pulled Deidara's top back down to cover him up again.

'Yes. I had teams researching into these seals and it seems that the seals are too attached to them. Extracting the seal would be too stressful on them and will probably kill them.'

Kurotsuchi glanced down and just happened to see Deidara's hands poking out from the sheets. He tried to pull them back under the covers but was stopped quickly by Kurotsuchi who held his wrist firmly in her hand. 'Wait! Deidara what happened to the mouths on your hands?' Kurotsuchi asked

Deidara pulled his hand back and looked away from Kurotsuchi. '…They're gone…'

'I can see that. Now tell me what happened.' Kurotsuchi demanded. Suddenly she pulled his shirt back up all the way to his neck to reveal his chest. 'What! The _whole_ kinjutsu is gone? How did this happen?' Kurotsuchi growled frustratedly.

'They extracted it.' Deidara mumbled. 'Then they put the seal on me.' Kurotsuchi turned to the Hokage beside her.

'Was it you who extracted it?' She asked hotly.

Tsunade frowned at the young girl. _Who does she think she's talking to?_ 'No. He was found like that.' Tsunade replied coldly.

Suddenly a though occurred to Kurotsuchi and she turned her head and pointed to the dark haired boy who was watching the whole situation. 'And what about him? Isn't he and Uchiha? Was his Kekkei Genkai taken as well?'

Tsunade- who hadn't even thought about that- turned to Itachi who nodded slowly in agreement.

'You mean, you can't use your sharingan?' Tsunade asked.

'That's right; I can't use it at all.' He replied.

xxxxx

The following day, after sending a message to their grandfather reporting Deidara's situation and spending the night at Konoha: the Tsuchikage responded back saying _"Leave Konoha first thing tomorrow. Deidara can stay there and the Hokage can do with him as she sees fit. He is no longer a threat and can be taken off the bingo books. The Hokage sent me copy of his files, he doesn't need to have a trial, he's been punished enough."_

Standing at the gate with Tsunade and the Hokage's assistant- a slim girl with short black hair and holding a pig- the two Iwagakure kunoichi said their farewells. They had already said their goodbyes to Deidara and explained to him what the Tsuchikage had ordered. He wasn't too pleased with being abandoned in Konoha, but when he thought about it, it might not be that bad to stay away from Kimutsuchi. He _will_ enjoy it.

Also before they left, Kurotsuchi spent a few minutes to talk to Deidara. She told him to take care of himself; and before she left she added:

'_Oh, and by the way. My grandfather sent Kimutsuchi here to stir you up. She really didn't have to come.'_

_Deidara let out an exasperated sigh and turned back to Kurotsuchi with a smirk on his face._

'_Well you tell old Onoki that I did _not_ enjoy the gift and that he should take my advice and retire already yeah.'_

_Kurotsuchi giggled and as she exited the room she turned to Deidara and smiled, 'Just so you know: He is still proud of you.'_

_Deidara pouted for a moment as he thought about what to say. 'Hey, Kurotsuchi… Tell the old man…Tell him that I said 'thanks' yeah. I really appreciate what he did for me… He'll understand.'_

_Kurotsuchi smiled and waved goodbye as she exited the room and shut the sliding door behind her._

Kurotsuchi turned to the Hokage and bowed slightly, 'Thank you for having us here, Lady Hokage.'

Tsunade smirked and replied, 'No problem. Don't get lost on your way back.' And she turned around to go back to her office. She paused when she heard Kurotsuchi behind her.

'Lady Hokage?... Please, please take care of Deidara-nii.' Tsunade paused and raised her hand in the air in a short wave before she continued to walk back to her office.

Satisfied, Kurotsuchi and Kimutsuchi both smiled and began their walk back to Iwagakure.

Xxxxx

Tsunade handed the nurse the empty cast and shut the door. Turning back to the Uchiha, Tsunade smirked at his happy expression as he inspected his now-cast-free arm. She walked confidently over to him and stood beside his bed, grabbing his arm, she pressed her fingers over his arm to make sure the bone was properly healed. Satisfied, she released his hand and turned to him and sighed. 'Well, that's one cast off.' Itachi smirked while looking at his free arm.

'Well, I'm going to head back to the office now.' Tsunade turned to Kakashi who was standing at the end of Itachi's bed after watching Tsunade remove Itachi's arm cast. 'A nurse is going to come by here tomorrow for Deidara's first rehab session. And I posted new anbu to stand outside the door; the other ones were up to something.'

Kakashi nodded as he remembered back to the time he found one of the ANBU inside the room while Itachi and Deidara slept. He couldn't risk these two being killed while on his watch; so the ANBU had to go. These new ANBU stationed at the door would be under strict watch after the last incident.

xxxxx

The small knock at the door alerted the four men to their new visitor. 'Enter' Kakashi answered the knock and a young nurse walked into the room. Her short brown hair cut into a straight bob style and her small fringe pinned back to the sides of her head by small pink clips. She looked very nervous to be in the room: her cream nurses' dress clung to her tiny frame and her long white socks pulled up to her knees neatly; her small white shoes completed the look.

'U-um… I'm here for Deidara-san's rehabilitation session.' Deidara just sat on his bed and didn't say anything so Jiraiya decided to take over the situation.

'Yeah, he is that blonde over there.' There was something not right about this girl; the way the ANBU watched her like a hawk spelt trouble. It also seemed that Deidara picked up on this, because he was suddenly very apprehensive.

The nurse walked over to Deidara's bed and pulled down the side bars to help him out of the bed. She held out her arm for Deidara to hold onto and he took it as he forced himself to his legs for the first time in months.

That's when all hell broke loose. When Deidara grabbed the girl's arm she let out a high pitched scream and pushed Deidara away from her yelling 'You jerk!' and he fell to the floor. She quickly ran to the door and told the ANBU what had happened (although her version was probably exaggerated) and the ANBU came storming in.  
>Deidara, was lying on the ground in a ball, gritting his teeth as the two ANBU proceeded to kick him in the abdomen and chest. 'You filth! How dare you grab her!' They continually yelled as they kicked him. Jiraiya and Kakashi stepped in quickly. They grabbed the ANBU and forced them out of the room along with the nurse. Once they were out in the hallway Kakashi stayed out there with them to talk to them while Jiraiya went back into the room to help Deidara back up.<p>

Not even able to sit properly, Deidara lay awkwardly on the ground listening to the ANBU yelling at Kakashi to let them back in. He had known for weeks that all the ANBU stationed with them were waiting there for the perfect moment to beat up either him or Itachi. At least some of the tension had eased now that they could vent some of their anger.

Wrapping a strong arm around Deidara's chest and under his arms, Jiraiya pulled the boy to his feet and held him steady. Even though the nurse had run off, someone needed to give the boy his rehabilitation. Eventually when the voices died down, Kakashi came back into the room and looked at Jiraiya supporting Deidara.

Noticing Kakashi looking at him, Deidara looked downcast to the floor and responded defensively. 'I didn't mean to hurt her. I am not a coward yeah…'

There was more silence before Jiraiya spoke, 'Yeah… we know you're not kid…' Jiraiya loosened his grip on Deidara so the boy could try standing on his feet with his full weight.

Deidara immediately winced as the pain from his hips shot through his body and reached out to hold Jiraiya's arm for support.

Because both his hips were dislocated, naturally there would be some damage. So thus began one of the many long hours Deidara would have to endure as part of his rehabilitation. Except from then on, Jiraiya or Kakashi would be the ones rehabilitating him. He never heard from the nurse, and after that incident no more ninja were stationed outside their room; Kakashi and Jiraiya then took it in turns to watch Itachi and Deidara by working in shifts.


	5. Chapter 5

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 5

'Well, todays the day you finally get your leg casts off.' Tsunade sighed relieved as she stood beside the bed Itachi had been confined to for the past 4 ½ months. Itachi also sighed from relief and Jiraiya let out a small laugh at the boy.

Itachi had been dying to get out of that room and off that bed since the moment he was brought to the hospital and seeing Deidara able to walk out of the room, albeit with the assistance of either Kakashi or Jiraiya, it made Itachi even more frustrated and irritable than normal.

Itachi felt so ready to have the casts off and start his own rehabilitation. His anticipation fuelled by the fact that right that very moment Deidara was out of the room walking around the hospital (with the help of Kakashi) and able to get out of the room.

Reaching out to one of Itachi's legs, Tsunade focused her chakra blade onto the cast and began slicing away the plaster, being careful not to cut his skin.

Finally-after several minutes- both casts were off and Itachi could see his legs and feet for the first time in months. Although there was a large thin scar running up the shins of both his legs, Itachi could hardly contain his excitement at being free from the casts and for a moment, he forgot his age, because with a big smile on his face he slowly moved his legs.

'Itachi, don't move them too much. And don't try to walk just yet. Remember you had to have a rod put in your tibia bone on both legs. So don't rush.' Tsunade ordered. Reaching into her pocket, Tsunade pulled out a small lime green container with a dark green lid and placed it on the table beside Itachi's bed. 'That's some cream the herbalists came up with to prevent scarring…Although you'll probably have a faint scar; the cream's not perfect.'

Itachi nodded and leaned back calmly in his bed as Tsunade examined the progress of his bones healing. It all seemed really good.

Out in the corridors of the hospital, Deidara slowly made his way around, occasionally letting go of Kakashi's arm so he could walk a few steps by himself. It was a slow process, but Kakashi never complained. Their usual routine walk took them through the hallways of the hospital. Kakashi usually lead Deidara through the least busy hallways so civilians and other Konoha citizens weren't alarmed by Deidara walking around. Yes, everyone knew who Deidara and Itachi were now, and they even knew what they looked like and who was guarding them.  
>When the Konoha 11 had heard about Deidara's identity they were all understandably angry that Tsunade hadn't thrown them in prison or punished them for their crimes. Naruto especially was angry that Gaara's killer was in Konoha, but he slowly got over it after he got a lecture from Jiraiya.<p>

Deidara pretended not to care about the stares and whispers by the people he walked past, but Kakashi could tell he was frustrated. So to prevent Deidara from lashing out at them, he kept him to the most secluded or less busy areas of the hospital.

That day their routine changed slightly. It had started like any other day, however, when they were walking down one of the secluded corridors they came across a woman leaning against a wall with her arm clutching her abdomen. Deidara and Kakashi stopped and stared at the woman, shocked, but both then rushed (as quick as they could) to her side when she started to moan from pain.

When they reached her side and asked her what was wrong, they discovered her enormously swelled abdomen.

The woman smiled up at them weakly and pained, 'Oh, it's just contractions. The nurse-' the woman winced again, 'the nurse suggested I should walk around to speed up the labour.' Small beads of sweat rolled down the woman's face and her hair clung to her damp cheeks and forehead and she continued to walk slowly forward.  
>After a few steps she stopped again and not thinking, Deidara let go of Kakashi and walked over to the woman. Kakashi just stared for a moment: he was walking! And the funny thing was Deidara didn't even know it.<p>

Kakashi followed closely behind them as Deidara helped the woman back to her room. She thanked him and started to walk inside her room where the nurses waited, leaving Deidara standing at the door with Kakashi behind him.  
>A feeling of pride swelled inside of Deidara as he watched the nurses help the woman back into her hospital bed. For the first time in a long time…He helped someone.<p>

Just about to leave, Deidara heard the woman call out to him. 'Wait.' She ordered through cries and pants. 'Would you stay?'

Deidara stood shocked in the doorway to the woman's room. Did he _want_ to stay? What would happen if he stayed?  
>Scared, Deidara looked up to Kakashi and when he saw him shrug his shoulders Deidara turned and painfully walked into the room to sit in a chair beside the woman. Kakashi followed and stood behind Deidara: this was certainly unexpected.<p>

For not quite an hour, Deidara sat, allowing the woman to scream in his ear and squeeze his hand. Finally it was all for something. With one last push and pained scream, the tired woman started to cry softly as the sounds of her new baby's cries echoed through the room, accompanied by the coos and happy laughter from the nurses.

The woman rested back into her pillow as the nurses wiped her baby clean and handed it to her in a warm blanket. Deidara sat awestruck as the woman cried happily over her beautiful baby and stroked its small head gently. After a minute or two the baby stopped crying and looked around at everyone. The woman turned to Deidara and smiled, 'It's a boy.'

Deidara's small smile-which he hadn't known he was wearing- grew into a wide grin at the woman and child. He had _never_ experienced anything like this before. He didn't even know what to call how he felt. Shocked maybe?

Deidara overheard one of the nurses speaking, 'Nature at its finest.' And Deidara looked up at them confused. The woman noticed Deidara's confused expression and smiled at him.

'The art of Nature: creating such a beautiful child.'

_The art of nature…Nature is art? Art that isn't a bang, that can't be right…_ Deidara thought to himself over and over on the concept of any other art more beautiful or exciting than his art. Sure, he knew there was other art out there. But this art…it was so different…

The woman turned to Deidara again and placed a fragile hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes, 'Thank you.' She smiled and moved her focus back to her new baby.

Suddenly Kakashi's calm voice broke through the happy cooing of the mother as he spoke to Deidara, 'I think we should head back now.' And with a nod, Deidara got to his feet. With the help of Kakashi, Deidara made it to the door.

'Wait.' The woman stopped him again, so he turned to face her again. 'Whats your name?'

Deidara felt proud again, 'Deidara yeah.' He smiled and continued to walk out the door.

He had so much to tell Itachi and Jiraiya when he got back to his room.

Back at the room Itachi and Jiraiya sat in silence, Tsunade was still there but she was reading over both boys' medical charts quietly.

The silence was broken abruptly when the sliding door flew open and Deidara walked confidently into the room surprising everyone. With a loud voice he spoke, 'Guess what I just saw.'

The others just looked up at him and waited for the boy to reply. 'I just saw "the art of Nature" yeah!' He said proudly and walked over to his bed by himself and sat down waiting for the others to say something.

'Whats "the art of nature" supposed to mean?' Itachi asked.

Deidara smiled even wider, 'I watched a baby being born yeah.' And the others were silent again, thinking of what to say.

Kakashi walked into the room and broke through the silence, 'Are you going to tell them what else happened today?'

Deidara looked up at him confused. What else happened today?

Deidara's eyes widened when realisation struck him, 'I walked by myself today yeah.' He grinned proudly and boastfully.

The others smiled too.

xxxxx

Itachi was called to the Hokage's office and arrived as quickly as he could. It had been a week since his casts came off and his walking has become confident enough for him to be released from the hospital. His stitches had been taken out and his scar was fading to a thin, faded line; thanks to the cream Tsunade supplied him.

Standing nervously in the office, Itachi waited with Jiraiya to hear what Tsunade had in store for him. He was a criminal who killed his clan, defected from his village and joined a criminal organisation. They may have healed him, but they were most likely going to send him to prison or worse for what he did.

The Hokage was reading over a pile of papers and when she was done she suddenly threw them at Itachi, who although couldn't use his chakra to the extent a shinobi can, he still had his martial art skills, and caught it expertly.

'I found this.' Tsunade said, placing her elbows on her desk intertwining her fingers and resting her chin on them nonchalantly.

Itachi read over it and realised it was a report detailing the Uchiha clan massacre and his defection of the village. There was a count of the bodies on the report as well. Like he needed it…He knew exactly how many people lost their lives in the massacre. Walking over to the desk of the Hokage, Itachi placed the papers back on the desk and stepped away, looking at the Hokage's face for a reaction.

Then she reached into a drawer under her desk and pulled out another piece of paper. It looked more weathered than the other paper and Itachi wondered what all this was about. Handing Itachi the second piece of paper, 'I also found this.' Tsunade said.

Itachi took the paper suspiciously and read over it, Tsunade continued to talk. 'I found the elders trying to sneak it out of the building under their robes.' Immediately Itachi's eyes widened in shock and he turned to the Hokage pleadingly.

'Please don't tell anyone.'

Jiraiya looked over to Tsunade, 'What are you planning Tsunade?'

Tsunade scoffed, stood and walked over to Itachi taking the paper out of his hands and passed it to Jiraiya. Quickly the older man skimmed through the words and turned to Itachi.

'Please no more.' Itachi pleaded. 'My clan will be disgraced.'

Tsunade eyed the boy curiously, 'But you'll be disgraced.'

'It doesn't matter about me.'

There was silence in the room as Tsunade thought about what to do with Itachi. The boy stood still and quiet. After a minute of thinking, Tsunade took the paper out of Jiraiya's hands and shoved it back into the drawer in her desk.

'No one else will know if you don't want them to, but I am not sending you to prison.' Itachi looked at Tsunade confused. 'Instead, I am going to work your butt off. You're going to be a civilian from here on and you'll have to fend for yourself.'

'Tsunade, what are you playing at? You know how hostile the villagers will be towards him.' Jiraiya growled. 'He'll be back in the hospital before you know it.'

'I'll be alright.' Itachi spoke. 'I just want my clan's honour to remain intact.'

'Very well, but because I am not completely heartless I will supply you with an apartment and a weeks' worth of money. I might even be able to give you a mattress to sleep on.' Tsunade smirked.

Itachi suddenly got the feeling that life was going to get more difficult with that smirk Tsunade was giving him.

xxxxx

'What do you mean you're leaving?' Deidara asked annoyed, getting out of his bed to walk over to Itachi who was exiting the room. He was suddenly getting a feeling of abandonment, watching Itachi leave.

'I told you. I am healed enough to leave. I am going to go find an apartment and live in it, hopefully get a job too.' Itachi said as he kept walking down the hall leaving Deidara standing hopelessly in the empty hallway of the hospital. Jiraiya was talking with Tsunade at her office and Kakashi was over at Itachi's new apartment to make sure everything was ok for him to move into: Deidara was all by himself watching Itachi leave.

He stood there for a few minutes wondering to himself what he was going to do now. For the first time in a long time he was alone.

Then it occurred to him. He would go and visit a friend he made in the hospital while on one of his walks with Kakashi. So making his way through the hospital hallways with his crutches (that Kakashi supplied him so he could attend other missions and leave Deidara alone), Deidara searched for his new friend.

For several minutes Deidara walked through the corridors to that familiar room. He found it. Opening the door Deidara was surprised to find it empty. Where was his friend?

Stepping out of the room, Deidara walked over to the nurses' station at the end of the hall and ignored all the mothers a nurses disapproving stares at him. 'Hey, where's the kid from room 20d yeah?' He asked.

The nurse- who had grown accustomed to Deidara's presence these past few days- flipped through some papers to find the name of the boy who belonged in that room. When she did she smiled, 'Oh, Satori-kun. He should be playing ball outside.'

Deidara thought about whether he should or shouldn't go outside without Jiraiya or Kakashi: but he quickly came to a decision. 'Thank you' he replied and he headed outside.

It took him a total of 10 minutes before he exited the building and found Satori in the backyard of the hospital. The small boy was kicking a ball at a wall repeatedly, wanting to play soccer but with no one to play with.

Smiling, Deidara walked over to Satori and called out to him. 'Hey.'

'Deidara-Sempai, you're outside.' The boy smiled widely, running over to Deidara and giving him a high five. 'Hey do you wanna play ball with me?' The boy asked, holding up the red ball to Deidara.

'Umm, I dunno, yeah. I might not be able to.' Deidara pouted and moved one of his crutches as if to prove a point.

The boy frowned. 'Aww, you're only making excuses. I bet you could play ball right now if you really _tried_' The boy whined.

Deidara almost laughed at the pathetic look on the boy's face. Then, before the boy knew what had happened, Deidara knocked the ball out of the boy's grasp and kicked the ball around. Deidara was running, shifting his weight from his legs to his crutches as he ran so he could minimise the pain from his hips.

Four hours the two boys played in the yard, kicking the ball around and resting under the large tree until they were interrupted by Satori's mother and a nurse.

It was getting dark and the two women came out in search for him. They had also gotten used to Deidara and weren't too concerned when they found Satori playing with him. 'Satori, it's getting late. You have an operation tomorrow so let's go get you ready for bed now.' His mother fussed, pulling a thick hospital robe around the small boy's frame.

Deidara picked up the ball and handed it to Satori. 'Good game little man. Let's do it another time yeah?' Deidara smiled.

The boy looked up to Deidara and nodded with a smile. Satori's mother then told the nurse to take Satori inside while she spoke to Deidara.

'Deidara.' She smiled weakly, 'you have been good to my son.'

Deidara frowned. He knew where she was going, she'd done it before and it annoyed him.

'But you can't get too close to Satori. As you know, he is going into surgery tomorrow…and there is not a high percentage of success rates…I just don't want to see you get hurt.'

Sure. The kid had heart failure and no matter what the doctors tried, he wasn't getting better. Deidara already knew this and just because he was a kid himself didn't mean he couldn't handle death. Heck, he is a former shinobi. He had stared death in the face.

'I know what I'm doing yeah.' Deidara mumbled and began to head back to his room. 'You've got a good kid Mrs Fèdo yeah.' Deidara said as he walked back to his room, leaving the woman in the yard still clutching her son's ball.

The next day was a quiet one.

The operation hadn't been a success and Satori had died on the operating table.

Satori's mother had wept but quickly cleared out the boy's room of his personal belongings and went home to prepare his funeral and tell her family. Before she returned home she left something behind for her son's best friend: Deidara.

He was in his room when he was told. Lying in his bed after a long exercise, Deidara forced himself into a sitting position as Satori's mother entered the room… He instantly knew by the expression on her face what had happened. Even before she started talking, Deidara turned his gaze to the floor.

'I thought you should have this.' She gave him the red ball. 'There will be a funeral next week if you are interested. It will be at the cemetery, at noon.' And Satori's mother exited the room quietly.

Tossing the ball in his hands, Deidara's thoughts went back to the small boy he had been playing with only the day before.

At sunset later that day the hospital was in a state of panic. The boy Tsunade had ordered to be watched had disappeared. No one could find him throughout the hospital and no one wanted to tell the Hokage. The panic started when Kakashi Hatake, the boy's watcher had arrived back at the hospital to check on the teenager, only to find his room empty. He went to the nurses' station and they told him that no one had seen him. That's when the hospital was sent into chaos.

Kakashi had to report to the Hokage so he went back to the Hokage's office to face her wrath.

Pretty soon whichever ninja was available in the village, was searching for Deidara.


	6. Chapter 6

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 6

Sitting silently on one of the boulders atop of the Hokage monument, Deidara stared out at the village below him. He still had the ball with him and he continued to roll it around in his hands.

He knew the people in the village were probably looking for him, but he just didn't care. Why was he so cut up about Satori's death? He was just like everyone else, and Deidara even knew that the boy was bound to die eventually, so why did he hurt so badly?

Suddenly he felt a strong hand grab his shirt and pull him to his feet. Before he could process what was happening, the person had grabbed both of Deidara's shoulders so the boy was looking directly at the person in front of him.

'You idiot. Do you have any idea how many people are looking for you?' Itachi growled angrily. He even shook Deidara a bit.

'Itachi?' Deidara asked, confused.

'Yes it's me. I had to walk all the way up here to get you.' Itachi sighed at the blonde and looked at the ground exasperatedly. 'And how did you get up here anyway? Aren't you on crutches?' He asked, raising his head so he was eyeing the boy suspiciously.

Deidara laughed and brushed Itachi's hands off his shoulders and took a few steps away from the Uchiha. 'Check this out. I don't need those _sticks_ anymore, yeah.' Deidara laughed confidently.

Itachi watched as the young blonde paraded around on top of the Hokage monument like a child. He couldn't help but smile hopelessly at the idiot, but he was still angry.

'So why are you up here anyway?' Itachi finally asked. Deidara stopped moving and stared down at the ball in his hands. He had actually discovered why Deidara was so sad hours ago; when he went to the hospital to look for him. A young boy named Satori Fèdo who Deidara befriended, had died while in surgery for a heart condition. But Deidara needed to admit that the death affected him or he would regret it.

Then looking up, Deidara smiled lightly and threw the ball at Itachi, who caught it with ease. 'Just some kid went and did some stupid things. But it doesn't bother me too much yeah.'

_The fool._ Itachi thought, but there wasn't anything he could do. Deidara had to admit it on his own.

Chucking the ball back to Deidara, the two of them made their way back to the hospital. 'You do know that you have a lot of explaining to do to the Hokage right?' Itachi joked. Deidara stiffened, but they both continued walking back to the hospital: neither of them noticing the silver haired ninja watching them from a distance.

xxxxx

'What were you thinking running off like that?' Tsunade bellowed at the young blonde in front of her. 'We had nearly the _entire_ village out looking for you!'

Deidara was speechless.

Calming down, Tsunade sat back down at her desk and sighed. 'Well now that you can walk around better you can leave the hospital and move in with Itachi.'

That was when Itachi spoke up for the first time in the entire conversation. 'What? Why is he moving in with me?'

'Itachi in case you've forgotten. That is not your apartment, it is merely accommodation provided to you on behalf of the village until you can afford your own place. You can't even afford to move back into the Uchiha estate. Both of you will be living in the same apartment until either of you can afford to move out.' Both boys were silent as they listened to Tsunade. How the heck were they going to live together when they couldn't even stand one another?

Nervously Deidara spoke up. 'Umm, I have a question yeah.'

'Speak.' Tsunade ordered.

'Has there been any news on Akatsuki?...You know… About us…' He bit his lip nervously.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. 'No. There hasn't. And you both accept your citizenship to Konoha and forget about Akatsuki or you _die_. Do I make myself clear?'

Deidara nodded quickly in agreement. 'Good, well then you may go now. And both of you try not to cause any concern for the villagers. Oh and Kakashi or Jiraiya will be checking in on you both from time to time so I know if you are dead or not.' Tsunade dismissed them and as they were about to leave Tsunade called out to Deidara again, 'oh and Deidara, you have to go to the hospital every week for a check up on your hips and don't skip out on it or I'll have you dragged back to that hospital forcefully.'

The two young men turned for the door. 'Oh and in case you two weren't aware of this already; you have been given a second chance by the grace of me and the village…So don't mess this up.' Itachi and Deidara nodded and left to begin their second chance.

Xxxxx

Itachi led Deidara to the shinobi appartments complex and to the apartment Tsunade had prepared for them. Itachi had already been there for two days and he gave Deidara some rules for living in the shinobi appartments. 'First thing: no one likes us, so don't even bother making friends with the shinobi of this village. Akatsuki has caused a lot of trouble for this village and if we go against a ninja now we will come off pretty badly.'

Deidara continued walking behind Itachi confidently with his arms behind his head and a smug expression on his face. He followed Itachi into the apartment, ignoring the glares from a passing shinobi. Once inside, Deidara shut the door and looked around. First glance and he wasn't impressed. The apartment was small, dark and unfurnished. Deidara grimaced as he removed his shoes at the doorway and walked further into the apartment. Itachi was still telling him some rules from another room but Deidara ignored him as he continued looking through the rooms. Rounding the small dividing wall from the entrance on his right, Deidara entered the small open area he assumed was the lounge area. The lounge area looked completely untouched…and lounge-less. He stepped further into the room and watched small specks of dust swirl in the air, lit up by the moonlight that shone through the two large uncurtained windows along the length of the wall.

At the end of the lounge area was another wall with two plain wooden doors. Curious, Deidara walked over to them. The door farthest from the windows was the first one he entered. Turning the cold handle, he pushed the door open to reveal a small room. The room looked ordinary, with wooden floor boards, a window, a small sliding door closet which contained the shikibuton and kakebuton inside. Deidara sighed at the simplicity of the apartment and left the room to look at the next one. Closing the door to that room, he stepped back into the living area and moved to the door closest to the living room windows and opened it. The room was identical to the other room, only it had a few small bits of paper and a cup of cold tea sitting beside a newspaper.

Deidara took in the sight and didn't notice Itachi walk up behind him, 'I was in the middle of looking for jobs when I was told by a passing jonin that you ran away from the hospital.'

Deidara nodded and walked out of the room; he walked back into the living room and now with his back facing the door to Itach's room, he looked to his left and saw two other old looking doors hinding in the shadow of the living room divider. He walked over to them and opened the door closest to the divider, 'The bathroom.' He nodded. It was small and lacking a window, to his relief; the apartment hallway was just outside those walls. Closing the door he was just about to open the other door when Itachi walked into the living room,

'That's the toilet if you hadn't guessed already. Your room is the one next to it.' Itachi walked into the kitchen with his cold cup of tea to wash it. 'Oh and Lady Hokage provided us each with a new set of clothes. Yours are in your room.'

Deidara sighed. How was he supposed to live in a place so small? And with Itachi Uchiha?

xxxxx

Two weeks had passed since Deidara moved in with Itachi and the two of them tried to avoid one another as much as humanly possible while living under the same roof. Occasionally Jiraiya or Kakashi would visit to check up on them, but their visits were becoming less frequent. On Jiraiya's last visit, he had supplied both boys with a pair of black pants and a white Konoha t-shirt each, which Deidara wore often.

Itachi hadn't acquired enough money to buy furniture but thankfully for them the village hadn't raided and sold off the Uchiha estate's furniture. And even though it was bad and he didn't like to think of it, Itachi had the whole Uchiha estate to sift through for furniture.

With the Uchiha clan- and nearly every family- when a person dies, they leave their belongings to family or close friends. So when everyone in the Uchiha state died, all their belongings stayed there because no one was sure who to give them to.

Actually, it was only after Deidara moved into the apartment with him did Itachi move furniture from the Uchiha estate into the apartment. He couldn't even think about stepping into that corner of the village so when Deidara had suggested that Itachi take some of the Uchiha furniture, Itachi nominated Deidara to be the one to get them.

And thankfully the blonde did without a fuss. He was dying for a television and a couch. And he wanted other comforts of home to put in an apartment he was being forced to live in.  
>But what he decided to not bring back from the Uchiha estate was detail of what it looked like or whose houses he got the furniture from.<p>

The houses were eerie. For three days Deidara would go in and out of the Uchiha estate: in and out of all those houses to take their abandoned furniture and to look around.

One day while at the Uchiha estate, just out of curiosity, Deidara ventured into the main house. It was obvious that the head of the family belonged to that house by the way it was alone, had magnificent (or would be magnificent if it had been maintained after the Uchiha's died) gardens and ponds and was the largest house in the Uchiha district.

Wandering through the house, Deidara searched through everything. He searched through the rooms and outside. It was dark and felt totally abandoned. Walking around in the house Deidara noticed a small photo frame tucked away in the far corner of the living room. Picking it up, Deidara rubbed his hand over the glass to wipe away the dust that had accumulated over the many years.

His eyes gazed at the small family in the photo frame sorrowfully. He didn't recognise anyone at first glance, but on closer inspection Deidara did recognise the older boy in the photo. Standing next to the woman in the picture was a smaller version of Itachi.  
>Deidara wasn't surprised to see Itachi in the head of that family, by the way Itachi always acted like a king…Well in Deidara's eyes anyway.<p>

Glancing down on the other side of the woman he saw a mini-Itachi who he guessed was Sasuke: Itachi's younger brother. From studying the photo Deidara concluded that Itachi got his looks from his mother, and promised to himself that he would make a joke about it later.  
>But for now Deidara placed the photo frame back down carefully and left the Uchiha district quickly. One could only stay so long in that God forsaken place.<p>

As soon as he had stepped foot out of the Uchiha district, a heavy weight was lifted from Deidara. It was so gloomy in that place that anyone who left it would feel relieved to be gone.

Walking back through the streets of Konoha, Deidara watched as the children in the streets would chase each other in a game of tag, or how women would stop to chat idly with one another and men patting one another on their backs after a long day's work. The whole picture made Deidara feel kind of happy…It was peaceful. Or was complacent the better word?

Weren't these people just relaxing and leaving all the hard work to their shinobi? That seemed pretty complacent Deidara thought to himself. Deidara continued to walk through the streets, he didn't like seeing how carefree everyone was, but it was a lot better than the fear and chaos that he was used to.

Then something caught his eye. As he walked through the street there was something that caught his attention among the shops. A beautiful row of potted plants and flowers, placed carefully in a row along the outside of a shop. Curious, Deidara stepped closer and crouched down so he could touch the soft flowers and smell their calming scent.

'Gladolius.' A soft voice told Deidara, and he looked up in surprise to see a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair standing next to him. She had a smile etched across her face as she looked down to him and continued, 'Gladolius, strength of character and generosity. It's a beautiful flower, do you know much about flowers?' The girl asked, crouching down beside Deidara.

The people in the street passed them as the two blonde's sat in front of the Yamanaka flower show. Deidara looked down at the flowers again and with a low voice replied, 'No. I have only ever known the Achillea Millefolia and Aloe.'

The girl pouted and studied Deidara's face when he went silent. 'Those aren't very pretty.'

There was more silence. 'Hey, would you like to learn more about flowers?' The girl asked. Deidara just looked at the girl confused.

'Like a school?' He asked.

The girl let out a loud laugh at the boy and placed her hand over her mouth out of modesty as she calmed down. 'No, I mean would you like a job here?' The girl spoke through laughter. 'I used to be pretty much full time here along with my father, but I graduated to chuunin and my father is receiving more missions nowadays.' She paused and stopped laughing to look at him seriously. 'So would you like the job?'

Deidara looked at the girl blankly and thought about it. Yeah he would need a job so he can move away from Itachi, but a florist? Hell no. The thought of being a florist was so strange that he almost laughed. Sure if he'd been asked a year ago if he wanted a job as a florist he probably would have scoffed and blown the person who asked him into pieces.

No. 'Sure.' He stared blankly at the girl still.

The girl let out a delighted chirp and smiled brightly at him, 'Good. My name is Ino Yamanaka and I am your co-worker. My father is our boss. You can start work tomorrow bright and early.'

Deidara was still in a state of shock. A florist? He kept repeating to himself. Oh he could hear Hidan and Tobi laughing now.

But Deidara snapped out of his thoughts when the girl stood up and handed him a small flower. It was blue and fairly pretty, but Deidara wasn't too fussed on it. He took it with a small smile and got to his feet to thank her.

'It's the Chinese Bellflower.' The girl smiled proudly.

'Thanks. My name's Deidara yeah.' He nodded to himself as he said it. The girl's smile brightened, she waved goodbye and went back inside the shop.

For a moment Deidara stood outside the shop twiddling the flower in his hands.

'Well that was unexpected yeah.' Deidara thought to himself aloud, and he headed home.


	7. Chapter 7

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 7

The low hum of the old television echoed through the living room, already lulled Deidara into a deep sleep on the couch. He lay on the lounge, leaning against the arm of the couch, his arms folded across his chest, one of his legs was elevated on the couch while the other hung pathetically over the edge of the lounge. His head was rested against the soft padding of the backing of the lounge and a soft snore left his lips.

_Click._ Deidaras' ear twitched at the strange noise but he remained on the lounge; his snoring stopped as he strained his ears to hear any other unfamiliar noises.  
>The sound of the front door opening slowly alerted Deidara and he sat up on the lounge to look in the direction of the door. His eyes had trouble adjusting to the darkness of the room, the moonlight wasn't providing much light in the room. Slowly a dark figure appeared around the divider and just as Deidara was about to ask who they were, the figure collapsed to the floor. Immediately Deidara rushed over to the person and flicked a light on in the process.<p>

Kneeling over on the ground was Itachi clutching his left temple firmly. Deidara knelt beside him, 'What happened yeah?'

Grimacing, Itachi used one of his hands to grip Deidara's shoulder in attempt to hoist himself onto his feet again. He just stumbled again and fell to the floor. 'You're bleeding!' Deidara said alarmed as he noticed the blood on Itachi's free hand. Itachi groaned and pulled his other hand away from his head to look at his other hand.

His eyes narrowed and a bead of sweat rolled down his face when he noticed the large amount of blood covering his hand. He quickly grew pale, 'I-It's.. Not th-that bad.' He croaked, 'I just need…Some rest.' He added faintly. He was quickly becoming dizzy and Deidara noticed his raven-haired flatmate swaying slightly.

'Uuh, I no; you need to go to the hospital yeah.' Deidara grimaced and pulled Itachi's arm over his shoulder, pulling the raven-haired to his feet. Deidara wrapped his arm around Itachi's back and slipped on his sandals as he led Itachi to the hospital.

Xxxxx

Slowly Itachi's eyes flickered open. _Great, another hospital…_ Itachi thought to himself as he took in the image of the white, clean room he was lying in. A sudden shot of pain coursed through his temple as he tried to turn his head and instinctively he ripped his hand from under the sheets to apply pressure to the painful wound. Strong hands were upon him as he tried to sit up and Itachi squinted through the pain to see his blonde flatmate trying to push him back down.

'You shouldn't be moving yeah. You just had stitches.' Deidara frowned at Itachi and forced his flatmate's head back onto the pillow. When Itachi rested his head back down he pulled his hand away from his aching head and rested it on his abdomen. 'What happened yeah?' Deidara asked.

Itachi sighed, 'I got hit in the head.'

Deidara felt the vein in his forehead pop and he raised his fist angrily at Itachi, '_I can see that_. How though yeah?'

'I was walking home and a group of noisy teenagers attacked me with a pole.' Itachi replied calmly and closed his eyes to block out Deidara's frustrated growls. His body relaxed when he heard Deidara rise from his seat and walk to the door; he didn't bother opening his eyes.

'Whatever. The nurses want you to stay in overnight, but I'm going home; I'll probably be back tomorrow to pick you up but don't count on it yeah.' Deidara walked out of the hospital and headed back to the apartment.

Sure enough he forgot to pick Itachi up from the hospital the next day; although Itachi never expected the blonde would show up. Itachi walked himself back to the apartment and Deidara went straight to work.

Xxxxx

Itachi woke with a start to the faint sound of rain pattering on the roof and windows. Sitting in his bed, Itachi strained his ears to hear where the strange noise that woke him up came from.

He heard it again. A strange pained noise was coming from the room beside his; Deidara's room, so Itachi rose from his bed to investigate. Hard shudders were sent down Itachi's back as his bare feet touched the cold wood floor of the apartment, but swallowing the feeling back, Itachi silently opened his bedroom door and walked into the living room to Deidara's room. Careful not to wake up the blonde, Itachi slowly opened the door to Deidara's room and raised an eyebrow at the odd site before him.  
>Curled in the foetal position on his bed was Deidara clutching his pillow tightly to his chest and a grimace etched onto his face; a lone bead of sweat rolled down his cheek as he let out another quiet scream. Itachi stood in the doorway watching the blonde as he squirmed in his bed and pleaded for someone to save him from his nightmare. <em>Great; another one of those nightmares.<em> Itachi thought to himself as he sighed and closed the door behind him as he left for the kitchen. _He'll probably wake himself up in a minute._ Itachi moved to the kitchen and began preparing a cup of tea ready for when Deidara would walk out of his room frightened and frustrated and demanding Itachi to pour him some tea.

With the tea boiled, Itachi sat at the table with two glasses; as he sipped his tea he gazed tiredly out the kitchen window to the rainy street outside. He quickly grew so consumed by the sound of the rain pounding on the apartment windows that he almost didn't hear Deidara dragging himself out of his room and sitting at the kitchen table. Deidara watched angrily as Itachi sat calmly sipping tea and eventually he let out a frustrated growl. 'Why don't you get those nightmares yeah? Why am I the only one suffering?' He growled confused, slamming a hand hard on the table for emphasis. Tears began to prickle at his blue eyes and he turned his head down so the Uchiha couldn't see them, 'All I can see every time I close my eyes is his _ugly_ face and that greedy look in his eyes.'

Itachi turned his gaze from the window to the blonde in front of him. Slowly he place his tea cup on the table and looked at Deidara. The boy had his head bowed ashamed in front of him and Itachi almost laughed at how embarrassed the boy looked; but instead of laughing, Itachi replied emotionlessly, 'Who said you're the only one suffering?'

Deidara looked up at Itachi and pouted irritated, 'Geez, can't I just vent occasionally yeah?'

'Hn.' Itachi mumbled in his tea cup as he took another sip; the two of them sat in silence, sipping their teas and then going back to their rooms quietly.

Although that night was never spoken of again, Itachi could still hear Deidara waking himself up at night when his nightmares would become too intense; but the blonde learned to just roll over and go back to sleep. He didn't bother Itachi about his nightmares again…But it still kept him up at night.

xxxxx

Deidara shoved the spare key into the keyhole and opened the door to the apartment. The apartment was quiet and dark. Deidara almost thought Itachi wasn't home, but as he walked through the apartment into the living room he let out a mocking laugh.  
>The sight was pathetic, so Deidara folded his arms and leaned against the living room's wooden divider frame and looked at his flatmate sprawled across the couch with his arm covering his eyes.<p>

'Shut up Deidara.' Itachi grumbled angrily.

'So what happened this time yeah?' Deidara laughed mockingly again. He actually wasn't in a happy mood at all now; he was more frustrated at his flat mate for moping around all the time.

They had been living there for one and a half months and Itachi was constantly in and out of jobs. For some reason no one wanted to keep him…Although even a child could figure out why. He was the man who massacred his entire clan! Even if he wasn't a ninja anymore; he still committed those crimes, and the villagers just didn't want to keep him employed in their jobs long enough to have to pay him.

So Itachi was out of a job…Again.

Pushing off the doorframe, Deidara walked into the living room: passing Itachi and landing on a sofa chair next to him. They were both silently staring up at the ceiling.

'So how's your job going?' Itachi asked.

Deidara turned his head to Itachi and saw him sitting up on the couch and rubbing his face. He didn't even seem to care: both boys were still awkward around one another.

'Well…Its ok yeah.' Deidara got up and walked over to Itachi, standing in front of him. 'And don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I found this in the shop today and thought you needed it.' Deidara barked and roughly handed Itachi a small flower.

Itachi took it and stared at it for a moment, 'A daisy?' He asked, suppressing a laugh.

Deidara huffed and walked into his room but not forgetting to shout out, 'It's a Chamomile, yeah!' and slamming his door shut behind him.

Itachi leaned back into the couch and twirled the flower around in his fingers. 'A chamomile, huh. A flower that is renowned for relieving stress and is associated with patience…' Itachi couldn't help but laugh to himself.

xxxxx

An hour had passed and Deidara was so embarrassed over the whole flower incident that he refused to come out of his room. Itachi just sat in the living room for a while longer before he made his way into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Stirring the boiling pot of food that Itachi was cooking, Itachi thought over what had happened that day. There was something he was forgetting…What was it?

There was a loud knocking at the door that interrupted Itachi's thoughts. Oh that's what.

Itachi turned the small gas burner down and moved towards the apartment's door, paying no attention to Deidara finally opening his door and peering out to see who the visitor was.

'How's it been kid?' Jiraiya grunted, glancing at Itachi up and down, absorbing the state the boy was in disapprovingly. The raven haired young man wore dark grey slacks that hung loosely on his still very slim body and were tied lazily to his waist by the pants string. His black shirt was also very loose and he was barefoot. His hair was tied back in his usual low ponytail but it was messy from his nap on the couch.  
>Jiraiya invited himself into the apartment, removing his sandals before stepping further into the apartment. Itachi left Jiraiya at the entrance and went back into the kitchen to continue his cooking, letting his appearance answer Jiraiya's question.<p>

As the older man walked further into the apartment he inspected the state of it and ventured into the living room, scanning it, and then moved into the kitchen. 'So where's Deidara?' He asked curiously.

'In his room.' Itachi said. Jiraiya just grunted and sat down at the small table in the middle of the kitchen.

The silence in the room was awkward. Itachi just continued cooking and eventually he was finished and started dishing it out for three people. As the smell of the delicious (but poorly prepared) meal wafted through the apartment, Jiraiya and Itachi smirked at the click of Deidara's bedroom door as it opened.

'Itachi,' Deidara pouted indignantly and sat down at the table to join the two other men, 'you didn't tell me that someone was coming over.'

As per usual, Jiraiya observed both boys appearance and living conditions on Tsunade's request. Deidara wore clothes similar to Itachi except his slacks (which were also still too big for him) were a lighter grey than Itachi's and his shirt was a sky blue instead of black. The blonde's hair was also tied in his signature hair style.

Deidara ate his food with a little more haste than Itachi who took his time to savour the meal. Jiraiya just watched the two and ate his meal gratefully. 'Deidara,' Jiraiya finally spoke after both boys were nearly finished their meals. The blonde paused from eating for a moment and turned to the white haired man, 'I heard you got a job recently. How's it going?'

Deidara thought about it. 'Well, I guess it's going okay yeah. It's not the worst job out there.'

'What are you doing?'

'…I'm-uh-florist yeah…' Deidara mumbled. Jiraiya's eyes widened as his eyebrows shot into his hairline. Did he just hear that correctly? Oh he was definately going to have a lot of fun telling Tsunade.

'A florist huh? How'd you get into that kind of work?' Jiraiya asked taking a bite of his food with a smirk.

'I was just passing by and they had an opening.' Deidara spoke defensively, his face turning a slight shade of pink.

The three of them spoke for at least two hours over what the young men had been up to since Jiraiya's last visit. Both boys appeared to have had a lot of troubles over the past few weeks. Jiraiya already knew that Itachi had been beaten up by some of the civilians and had to get stitches, but from what he could gather the group of teenagers were still harassing Itachi.

'How's your head healing?' Jiraiya asked Itachi. The raven haired boy reached for his bangs and moved them aside to reveal his still healing wound on his hairline from where the teens had struck him. It was pretty good considering they hit him with a pole; it could have been a lot worse.

After a few more minutes of talk, the three of them rose from the table and Itachi and Deidara walked Jiraiya to the door. The older man put on his sandals and paused back to Itachi and Deidara. 'Oh and before I go.' Jiraiya reached down to the ground and picked up two large paper bags and handed one each to Itachi and Deidara.

The boys reached into the bags curiously and pulled out what was in them. Deidara pulled out a new set of slacks and a t-shirt. The slacks were a smaller size than his current ones and they were black. The t-shirt was a soft green and also a smaller size than what he had now. 'Thanks yeah.' Deidara bowed his head gratefully.

Itachi pulled out a few things. He also pulled out a new set of pants and a new shirt but he also had some bandages, new pair of sandals and some money which will go to both boys' food supply. Itachi's new slacks were also black and a size down from his current pair and his new shirt was a lighter grey than his original slacks. Jiraiya learnt quickly when he bought them things that bright colours definitely weren't Itachi. Itachi's new sandals were the typical navy blue. 'Thanks.' Itachi bowed his head respectfully.

Before Jiraiya left the apartment he turned to the two boys. 'Keep holding on kid, you'll get there eventually.' Itachi nodded. 'And _you_.' Jiraiya turned to Deidara, 'Congrats on your job. Don't blow it kid.' And Jiraiya left to report to Tsunade.


	8. CHapter 8

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 8

Two weeks had passed and things still hadn't improved for Itachi. As he walked back to his apartment on the night of November 27, Itachi was sighing over another job he had just lost.  
>He'd thought he'd been doing so well too, but with just a day to go before he got paid, they fired him claiming that some of the customers complained that he was too dangerous to have the weeks he had come to realise that the people weren't firing him because he can't do the job-because he certainly could do the jobs they gave him- but they were firing him because of what he did in the past.<p>

The streets were busy that night as people prepared for the festival in the coming month. Men were building small stores for their shops while women were preparing their families yukata's.

Everyone was excited for the coming fireworks festival, which was evident through the bustling streets and the way everyone was in a good mood.

Itachi walked dejectedly through the street on his way back to his apartment; shoulder's slightly hunched and casually swinging his plastic grocery bag occasionally to propel him forward another step. He could hear the celebrations in one of the restaurants on his left…A birthday party by the sounds of it.

He could hear the restaurant door open and before he could react, he was knocked to the ground accidentally; his groceries rolling a few feet away.

'Ow ow ow.' He heard a young boy's voice as he opened his eyes and rubbed his head. Quietly getting to his feet, Itachi looked around to find the person who had just ran into him and saw no one. What he did see was a blonde boy around Sasuke's age, bent over picking up the groceries that had rolled away.

Naruto. The boy had picked up the groceries, put them in their bags and walked back over to a shocked Itachi and handed them to him. Itachi accepted it gratefully.

'Thank you.' Itachi bowed his head and took the bag. Naruto looked up at Itachi and gave him a puzzling look.

'Itachi?' Itachi nodded. 'How have you been? I haven't seen you since you were brought here?' Naruto sounded strange. He didn't sound as bubbly as he usually does…He almost sounded… serious.

'Uh, you know…Surviving.' Itachi was never really big on talking.

'Hey, I heard you were looking for a job.' Naruto piped in after a couple of minutes of silence. Itachi hung his head embarrassed at the fact he was unemployed again. Naruto took that gesture as a yes and continued. 'I know a good place that is looking for someone.' Naruto smiled encouragingly.

Itachi looked up from the ground to see Naruto's serious expression. 'Can I ask why you are helping me?'

Naruto looked sad, 'I was eavesdropping on Granny Tsunade one time-wait I didn't mean to-don't get the wrong idea-I was just about to knock on the door when I heard it-'

'Heard what?'

'…Well…' Naruto leaned closer to Itachi so he could whisper. 'I heard about the Uchiha clan…And that what you did was a-'

Itachi cut him off right there with his strong hand slapped across the blonde's mouth. Naruto stared up at him in shock and Itachi looked down at Naruto darkly. 'Whatever you heard that day in regards to my clan. Forget. It. Now. My clan will be disgraced if anyone knew.' And he released the boy and watched to see his reaction.

Naruto took the message clearly and brought back his usual goofy smile, 'Your secret's safe with me. And that job is still available if you are interested. It's at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.' Naruto beamed.

Itachi smiled slightly and nodded. 'I will check it out tomorrow. Thank you Naruto.'

And the two parted to go to their homes.

xxxxx

Itachi entered the ramen shop and when the owner saw him he bowed his head respectfully. 'Yes?' The older man said. The authority in his voice made Itachi cringe slightly and the girl who was cooking paused to watch the scene unfold in front of her curiously. The young raven haired man who just entered her father's shop wore black slacks and a light grey shirt, he also had blue ninja sandals and a bandage wrapped securely around his left forearm and wrist. The young man kept to the front of the shop and away from the owners as much as he could and while he remained in a bowing stance, his bangs covered his face so the girl and the man couldn't see his face.

'My name is-'

'I know what it is.' The man grumbled impatiently and the young man in front of him cringed again. 'What do you want?'

'I was told you were hiring. I would like a job here if you are willing to hire me.' The boy kept his bowing stance out of respect, but it was mainly so the shop owner couldn't see the anguish shown on his face.

The man folded his arms across his chest and looked down to the boy in front of him. 'Why should I hire you? You were the young man who killed his entire clan, abandoned his village and became a wanted criminal. How can I trust you in front of my customers and my precious daughter?'

The boy held his breath, 'I cannot think of any reason to hire me. But you have my word that I would never hurt your customers or your daughter.'

The man grumbled, 'What's your word to me?'

The boy lowered even further. 'I'm sorry. That's all I have.' Suddenly Itachi straightened and turned to leave.

'Where do you think you're going?' The man grumbled. Itachi paused and looked back to the man confused.

'I never said you weren't hired. After all, Naruto annoyed me so bad last night while I was closing that I can't _not_ hire you.' The girl behind the counter smiled and the man threw Itachi a dish towel. 'My name is Teuchi and this is my daughter Ayame. Don't make me regret hiring you.'

xxxxx

Eventually that month had passed and the festival was upon the village. Visitors everywhere poured in for the unique fireworks festival.  
>Deidara and the Yamanaka's worked overtime in preparing flowers for some of the floats that were going to parade around in the streets of Konoha, while Itachi at Ichiraku Ramen was given special training by Teuchi and his daughter on how to invite customers into their restaurant with just a smile and to cook the famous Ichiraku Ramen to perfection.<p>

Everything was finally going smoothly and Teuchi showed no sign of firing Itachi. Naruto had recommended Itachi to Teuchi the day before he had suggested working there to Itachi and Teuchi was at first very apprehensive in hiring a reformed criminal, but after some persuasion, Teuchi had decided to give the boy a chance.

And he didn't regret it.

Itachi was a hard worker who was eager to learn; he got along well with customers when they wanted to talk to him and he never complained, even when some of the customers would insult him and tried to get him to do something wrong.  
>Teuchi had no idea at first that some of the customers were treating Itachi that way and he usually lived to please his customers but when Ayame told him about what some of the customers were saying to and about Itachi, he stepping in, telling Itachi to defend himself; Teuchi even told the customers to never insult Itachi in his shop ever again and kicked them out.<p>

_Itachi continued to stir the pot of ramen. It was taking everything he had to ignore the teenagers behind him as they threw insult after insult at Itachi. 'Hey traitor! Why don't you try killing yourself instead of other people?' The teenagers would laugh. Itachi just continued to stir the food and pour the teenager's orders into the bowls to serve them.  
>He poured the first one and walked over to one of the teens and placed it in front of him quietly: avoiding eye contact. 'Hope you enjoy your meal.' He said quietly. He turned back to the pot to pour another bowl as Ayame entered the shop from taking the rubbish outside. She stood next to Itachi and observed him as he quietly poured another bowl. She frowned when the teens barked more insults at Itachi.<em>

'_That's enough. Eat your meals quietly and then leave.' Ayame growled at the teenagers who laughed in response._

'_Miss Ayame, please. Just ignore them.' Itachi begged Ayame as he finished pouring the other bowl. He walked over to the second teenager and placed it in front of him and went back to the pot to pour the third and final bowl.  
>Ayame folded her arms stubbornly.<br>'No. You have to defend yourself more.'_

'_I promised your father I wouldn't hurt the customers.' Itachi said low enough for the teenagers not to hear. Just when they thought it couldn't get much worse, one of the teenagers threw some pork at the back of Itachi's head and everyone went quiet. Ayame frowned at the teens and when Itachi continued to pour the soup, the teens started laughing again and pelted more of their food at Itachi's back and head._

_Somehow Itachi managed to ignore them and walked over to the third teenager while they were still throwing things at him and placed the food in front of the boy quietly._

_He turned around back to the pot, his stained white clothes facing the teenagers and only served as some kind of encouragement for the teenagers to continue throwing things at him. Suddenly a piercing pain shot through the back of his head and instinctively Itachi pressed his hand to the sore spot. The sound of shattering could be heard faintly underneath the sound of the teenagers laughing. Hot ooze ran down the back of Itachi's neck and he realised that the teenagers had run out of food and resorted to throwing their bowls at his head._

_He continued to ignore the boys as he closed his eyes tight and used his hand to cover the bleeding wound on the back of his head. The boys continued to pelt things at him but suddenly everything went quiet._

_A strange sound of water being poured echoed through the shop and Itachi panicked for a moment thinking the teenagers were messing with his cooking so he turned suddenly with his eyes wide open and his hand still pressed firmly against his wound. His eyes widened when he saw Teuchi standing in the room with the pot in his hands and the teenagers completely drenched in soup. 'If you're going to abuse one of my employees and not eat your food quietly then leave now!' Teuchi bellowed._

_The three drenched teenagers cowered at the sight of the angry shop owner and scurried away quickly. Their faces reddening from embarrassment as the civilians laughed at the drenched teenagers running from Teuchi. Shocked, Itachi could only stare at Teuchi as the man put the pot back down on the counter and turned to Itachi. Barely out of the corner of his eye, had Itachi noticed Ayame enter the shop; when had she left?_

'_You.' Teuchi growled and pointed an accusing finger at Itachi. 'Don't you _ever_ let someone trample all over you like that again. Customer or not.'_

_The shop went quiet again as Teuchi turned to face the mess he had just created and all the scattered food on the ground with a sigh. Ayame walked over to Itachi and placed a hand on his arm so she could see the wound on the back of his head. 'Ayame, take Itachi to the hospital so he can have his head looked at. After that he can come back here and clean up this mess.' Teuchi sighed exasperatedly._

_Ayame nodded and led Itachi out of the shop and to the hospital. The shop was closed for the rest of the day._

Itachi was actually pretty shocked when Teuchi reacted the way he did and promised to try to defend himself more. He got along pretty well with those two and he didn't want to make Teuchi angry again.

On the night of the festival Itachi was-even though he wasn't scheduled to at first- working at the Ichiraku Ramen bar because Ayame suddenly made plans with her friends for that night and left the bar for just her father to look after. Itachi didn't complain. The only plans he had for the festival night was to sit at home by himself and watch the street parade from his living room window as it went past.

Both the former Akatsuki were feeling happier lately. Deidara had even settled into his job and made friends with Ino and her family. On days when Ino and her father were both on missions, Deidara was left to look after the shop by himself or with Ino's mother if she was well enough.  
>Ino's mother wasn't in the shop very often because of her sickness, but Deidara was very capable of running the store in the Yamanaka's absences. He was learning quickly which flowers meant what and understood the many villagers very well. Awarena-San was a regular customer at the store and Deidara learned quickly that the pink or red camellia were what he needed when he was wooing one of the many women he had his eyes set on in the village. Deidara would have a bouquet prepared every Wednesday for Awarena-San with the striped carnation for the evening when Awarena-San would end his fling with one of his women and so the cycle would continue.<p>

Deidara would have a bouquet ready for the elderly woman who made it a habit to stop by the shop to buy a bunch of forget-me-nots for her deceased husband's grave every morning. And Deidara learned how to read a person's body language the moment they enter the shop and had an idea of what bouquet to make them for the situation in their life that compelled them to enter the flower shop.

It was a very busy store, and Deidara realised after his first week that he enjoyed being a florist very much. If he had of told the-him from a year ago that he enjoyed being a florist then he would probably be slugged in the face by himself; but he honestly enjoyed it.

The night of the festival the shop closed ten minutes after the usual time to give people some saving grace as they raced around in preparation for the festival.

As Deidara locked up the shop, Ino came running over to him with a smile on her face. 'Hey are you going to the festival tonight?' She asked.

Deidara had looked at her confused. Honestly he hadn't even considered going to the festival. 'I wasn't planning on it. I haven't even got a yukata, yeah.' Deidara laughed but bowed his head ashamed at himself.

Ino laughed, 'Good. I figured you wouldn't have a yukata so I bought one for you. You're coming to the festival.' She smiled and pulled out a blue yukata with small white faded fan's on it for Deidara out of one of her many bags and handed it to him happily.

To say he was surprised was an understatement. He was totally not expecting that, but he accepted it gratefully and with a smile.

'Good, I will meet you here at 8 in time for the fireworks. I'm gonna take you to the _best_ place to view the fireworks.' Ino smiled proudly. Deidara's face lit up when Ino mentioned fireworks; explosions were his favourite.

Three hours later Deidara made his way to the Yamanaka shop to wait for Ino. He was wearing the yukata she bought for him and he had his hair pulled back in his classic Deidara look and his hands tucked into his large yukata sleeves.

'Deidara.' Ino called to him as she ran up to him waving her paper fan in the air. Deidara's eyes visibly widened when he noticed her appearance. She was wearing a red-plum coloured yukata with a pale yellow obi, the yukata had faint flower patterns along the trimmings of the yukata that gave it a more feminine. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a bun with her fringe in her face as usual, and two small pink clips just placed in her hair for decoration; a few strands of hair escaped the bun near her ears and the bottom of her hairline at the back of her neck and on her forehead. Her fan had a beautiful picture of a flower on it and what Deidara could tell it was crocus: a flower used to symbolise happiness. How suitable.

'Deidara, I hope you haven't been waiting long.' Ino smiled up at the blonde boy apologetically.

He just looked down at her and forced a reassuring smile. 'Nope: just got here, yeah.' Smiling wasn't really his thing before because he never really had anything to smile about. But for some reason he just_ could_ when he was in Konoha.

They both started walking down the streets, past the Hokage mansion and up the steps to the Hokage monument. 'Deidara…?' Ino asked once they were almost at the top.

'Hmm?' He replied, looking up at her as they continued to walk up the monument. They were almost at the top.

'What do you think of my yukata?' Ino asked nervously, and if Deidara was looking at Ino's face he would have noticed the heavy blush on the girls face.

'Yeah, it looks good.' Deidara's voice cracked slighty and he held his fist to his mouth as he cleared it and continued. 'It suits you.' Deidara replied what seemed to Ino as indifferently. Actually it was taking everything Deidara had not to grab Ino and kiss her. She just looked so beautiful!

Ino had been hoping for more of a reaction, but it was good enough. Finally reaching the top, Ino grabbed Deidara's wrist happily and pulled him to a spot that overlooked the village perfectly. 'This is the _perfect_ place to watch the fireworks.' She cooed happily.

Actually a thought just occurred to Deidara. Was this a date? He suddenly grew nervous and clammed up. Ino was very confused at first but quickly caught on. She smiled to herself but instead of embarrassing him she just turned to the village and casually laughed to lighten the mood, 'I can't believe this is your first festival. I was thinking about it the other day actually and decided to show you the best spot for the fireworks. I remembered someone telling me that you once liked explosions and stuff, so I thought that even though they aren't the explosions you're used to, hopefully they will be close for you.' Ino finished with a smile.

Deidara didn't fully get it, but from what he could tell Ino had gone out of her way to give Deidara something to smile about. He suddenly felt a lot calmer with Ino as they both talked and waited for the fireworks to begin.

Back at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar everything was really busy. 'Thank you, come again.' Teuchi farewelled their-what felt like-100th customer for the night: and he turned back to the cooking.

Itachi was working tirelessly over the boiling food in order to make enough food for the customers- who even had tables outside thanks to Ayame's idea of expanding for the festival- and Teuchi was expecting the food to be perfect. The heat from the boiling food and the constant shuffling around the shop meant Itachi was heating up pretty quickly and resorted to rolling his sleeves up to his shoulders and using string to hold it in place. It provided him with some relief but unfortunately for him, exposing his muscles and toned arms like that welcomed more customers into the restaurant. Teuchi didn't bother telling the boy about why there was suddenly an influx of customers because he'd never seen business so good in almost all the years he worked at the bar.

Dozens of young women were flooding into the ramen bar in hopes of catching a glimpse of the 'good looking cook' that everyone was talking about. They also came in hopes of getting a date with him.

A couple of hours into the festival Itachi was stopped when he heard a familiar voice. 'Dad what do you think you are doing?' Ayame.

Itachi turned from the cooking to see Ayame berating her father in her beautiful midnight blue yukata with a yellow obi and a light blue bird pattern on her yukata. She was waving her paper fan at her father hotly. 'What are you doing making Itachi work when the fireworks are just about to start?' She growled and her father scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

'I don't mind Miss Ayame.' Itachi interjected.

Ayame turned to him with a fiery gaze, 'It's just Ayame and you are not allowed to miss the fireworks.' She ran off and a few seconds later came barging through the side door of the ramen shop and pulled Itachi by the wrist out of the shop and into the street so he wouldn't miss the fireworks.

She continued to hold his wrist to keep him from going back into the shop even as she stared up to the sky in wide eyed wonder when the fireworks started.

Itachi smiled as he watched the fireworks reflect in Ayame's big brown eyes and couldn't tear his gaze away from the sight before him.

'Fireworks have always been one of my favourite things yeah,' Deidara smiled across to the girl next to him as the fireworks continued to light up the village.

The girl with a smile turned to Deidara and waited for him to continue.

'I just thought of the perfect song for this moment yeah.' Deidara said proudly, looking back to the fireworks he started to sing it, although Ino didn't tell him that he was off-key:

_Sasa no ha sara-sara_  
><em>Nokiba ni yureru<em>  
><em>Ohoshi-sama kira-kira<em>  
><em>Kingin sunago<em>  
><em>Goshiki no tanzaku<em>  
><em>watashi ga kaita<em>  
><em>Ohoshi-sama kirakira<em>  
><em>sora kara miteiru<em>

As Deidara finished, Ino let out a giggle and he turned to her with a smile. 'Wrong festival. That's the star festival, this is the fireworks festival.'

Deidara smirked and turned back to the fireworks above them, 'Same things really.'


	9. Chapter 9

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 9

All too quickly it had past. The festival had swept by and everyone continued on with their lives. Everything was peaceful in Konoha.

The boys had finally broken through the distrust in the village and were slowly being accepted into Konoha society: starting with the kids.  
>Every day when the Konoha ninja academy finished, Deidara (at first unintentionally) past the playgrounds on his usual errand runs for the shop and was bombarded by young kids. Usually Deidara would have freaked at the sight of the swarm of kids running towards him, but the peacefulness of the village-although he hated to admit it- had rubbed off on him. He actually greeted the kids with a smile and a wave.<p>

The young girls would comment on how beautiful the flowers were and giggle as they continued on with their girly games. The boys would approach Deidara and challenge him to some games with them and ask him to supervise while they sparred. He enjoyed the childish games very much; as they were a distraction from all the hard work he endures at the flower shop and the boredom that sometimes accompanies it. Sometimes when he would make his errands he would stay with the kids for hours until sunset and their parents would come to pick them up from the playgrounds. The parents were nervous to have an ex-criminal play with their kids at first but they gradually trusted him more.

Itachi was making progress with the village as well; although he found it harder to be trusted back into the village than Deidara because people actually _knew_ him.

After the festival, Itachi was surprised that Ayame had asked him to accompany her on errands for the shop and over for dinner on some nights. It was actually very uncomfortable for Itachi whenever he was invited over to Ayame and Teuchi's house for dinner; he could never understand why Teuchi would suddenly glare at him the whole time. As Ayame grew closer to Itachi, it seemed that Teuchi was growing further away.  
>Itachi had a feeling of father-son whenever he was around Teuchi…Well what he believed a father and son relationship should feel like.<p>

Although everything was going smoothly and Itachi played an innocent in front of Teuchi and Ayame, he knew very well that he was getting too close to Ayame. The girl was sweet but Itachi had already decided that he would never love again. He was only living do die by his brother's hands. Although he was happy with Ayame and Teuchi in the village he loved so much, Itachi just wanted to make Sasuke happy. The boy had been training for most of his life just to get revenge; Itachi felt he didn't have the right to take that away from the boy. He would continue to play a fool and pretend to be oblivious to Ayame's feelings for him until Sasuke had acted out his revenge for their clan.

Now Deidara was living a little differently. He had moved out of Itachi's apartment two months previous and was renting a room somewhere far enough away from Itachi to satisfy Deidara. It had been too awkward living with the guy he'd sworn to hate.  
>Two months previous when Deidara had decided that living with Itachi was too much for him, Deidara searched for an apartment of his own. Although he quickly came to the conclusion that he simple couldn't afford his own apartment yet and had resigned himself to living with Itachi for a few more months.<p>

That was until he got that offer.

He was walking in the streets when he came across a familiar face. It was the woman he met in the hospital; the woman who let Deidara watch as she gave birth to her son. The woman had been walking in the market place when she spotted Deidara carrying some supplies for the flower shop. Initially the woman was surprised to see Deidara there with all those flowers but she quickly reintroduced herself to the boy.

Nasake Takeda; Deidara learned. A beautiful young woman with long straight brown hair that reached a little past her waist: the sides pulled back with pins to keep her face clear. Her bright smile and deep blue eyes would draw any man in, but men didn't approach; because clinging to her long hair was a small seaweed green haired baby boy in his dull orange sling on Nasake's back. The boy had Nasake's deep blue eyes and bright smile when Deidara looked at him.

'_His name is Deidara.' The woman quickly introduced. Deidara stood stunned for a moment and couldn't find any words. Deidara? Why?_

_Noticing the boy's reaction and shock the woman quickly pulled the baby out of the sling and held him to her chest so Deidara could get a better look at the boy. 'You know, the day I went into labour with my son I received a letter from the Hokage that my husband Yuu Takeda, was killed on a mission. I was devastated but didn't have any time to grieve over my husband's death. He was an amazing man, and the love of my life. He did so much for me...' The woman started to cry softly as she snuggled her face close to her baby, 'he even gave me this amazing child.'  
>Deidara looked at the mother thoughtfully and waited for her to continue. But why did she choose the name Deidara?<em>

'_My son's name is Deidara Yuu Takeda after you and his father. As I walked through that hospital I was thinking the worst things…I just wanted my husband back…But while I was walking, I saw you…You looked at me with such an innocent and caring look on your face…Your eyes…They were so questioning, asking me what I was going to do. I felt like you were giving me the same look my husband used to give me when I'd do something wrong. Waiting for me to make the right decision, patiently…I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable, but you're the reason this baby is still alive…I was thinking such dark things, I didn't think I could live on in this world…I want my son to grow up knowing the name of the man who created him and the man who reminded his mother that there are other reasons to live…'_

_She looked up at Deidara with a blush. Deidara definitely did feel uncomfortable, but not because the baby was also named Deidara. They were in the middle of the market place and this woman was crying to Deidara._

_The woman looked up at Deidara waiting for a response. 'Look,' Deidara finally spoke and placed one of his hands on the baby's head gently, 'I don't mind that you named the kid Deidara, yeah. I feel honoured…I'm sorry about your husband, yeah…' Deidara spoke quietly and as sincere as he could._

_The woman made a weak smile on her face and dried her face with her long cherry-pink yukata sleeve. 'So how have you been over the four months since we last met?'_

_Deidara sighed and confessed his troubles from the past four months from that moment he got his first lecture from Tsunade, to his depressed flat mate and becoming a florist. He told her how overjoyed he was when Konoha had the festival and how much of a great time he had only to be disappointed when he realised he couldn't afford his own place and escape the awkwardness of living with Itachi. The woman was pleased to hear that Deidara was doing really well and that he had a job.  
>She laughed at the thought of Deidara's roommate moping around and annoying Deidara. She was sad that he couldn't afford his own place: and that's how he came to rent a room.<em>

_She happened to have a spare room in her house since her husband passed away and wasn't using the spare room for his scrolls and weapons. She offered for Deidara to move into that room on a low rent which he accepted gratefully._

…_Little did he know that babysitting was part of the deal…_

xxxxx

Placing the perfectly arranged bouquet onto the counter Ino looked up at Deidara as he finished the bouquet he was working on. 'Deidara,' Ino asked quietly.

'Hmm?' Deidara cocked an eyebrow as he looked at Ino. _Is something wrong with the arrangement?_

'I was just about to go and get some lunch. Would you like to come with me?' Ino asked with a light blush on her face.

'Do I get to choose what we get, yeah?' Deidara tried to supress his excitement; Ino smiled.

'Of course. What should we get?' She chimed and turned back to her bouquet to put a ribbon around it.

Instantly Deidara blurted with an eager smile, 'Bakudan!' Ino laughed to herself and pulled the ribbon firmly around the bouquet.

'Bakudan it is then.'

xxxxx

Walking through the door of Nasake's home, Deidara carefully removed his blue sandals and placed them neatly off to the side of the genkan.

'I'm home.' He called as he stepped into the living area.

'Oh Deidara, glad you're back. Dinner is almost ready and it was very chilly outside so I turned on the kotatsu.' Deidara noticed Nasake pop her head around the thin door dividing the living room from the kitchen: her long hair flowing freely. Deidara continued further into the living room and sat down at the small kotatsu comfortably.

In the living room Deidara could hear Nasake pottering around in the kitchen and the inviting aroma of warm freshly cooked food filled his nose. 'Hey Nasake, where's the squirt?' Deidara called after a moment.

'Oh he's in his room…Actually he should be awake by now so you can go in if you'd like.' Nasake answered distractedly.

Smirking to himself, Deidara clambered out from underneath the kotatsu and made his way to the infant's room; walking out of the living room, turning left down the hallway, second door to the right: Deidara walked to the infants' room, his house slippers making soft muffled noises against the wooden floor of the house.  
>Deidara pulled the thin door open and was greeted by a surprised squeal and happy gurgling from the small boy in the crib. He walked over to the crib and pulled down one side to pick up the smiling baby, and rested him securely on his hip with his arms wrapped around him lovingly.<p>

…_Oh if Akatsuki saw me now…_

Deidara bounced the small child in his arms playfully and smiled when the boy squealed with excitement. 'How was your day today kid?' Deidara smiled. The baby just giggled excitedly in response. 'Really? Well my day was pretty boring. I had lunch with a girl today…That's probably the only thing worth mentioning…' Deidara held the baby securely in his right arm as he moved to the bookshelf in the boy's room and grabbed one of the children's books.

Sitting down comfortably on the floor mat, Deidara placed the small boy in his lap as he began to flick through the pages of the story:

'_The race was about to begin. Bull the wealthy, Dog the loyal and Tiger the courageous were all ready for the race. But there were two contestants left who hadn't shown yet._

_Crow the Death was next to show up. Everyone was still waiting for the 5__th__ and final contestant for the race to show up._

_Finally with only two minutes to spare, Crane the wise showed up: knowing all along that if he just waited and took his time then he would make it on time to the race and he wouldn't forget anything in the rush._

_The race began and all the contestants raced to the finish line. The prize of the race was immortality and everyone was fighting for it._

_The contestants were racing and they were all approaching a dark forest. All the contestants were stricken with fear and halted at the forest edge. All were afraid except for Tiger the courageous.' _Deidara emphasised the last sentence to make the story more exciting and the small boy in his lap squealed with excitement; Deidara continued._ 'He bounded forward into the forest first._

_Unfortunately though, he got lost quickly and spent a long time looking for the way out._

_The others quickly banded together to find their way through the forest. Using Dog's keen nose the group eventually found their way out of the forest and were back on the race._

_They raced 'til they reached a long dirt road surrounded by rice fields and humans working hard. The group were racing but paused when they heard a small boy crying on the side of the road._

_Impulsively, Dog the loyal rushed to the crying boy to help him but the others took the opportunity to race ahead of him._

_Along the narrow dirt road they raced until they reached a fork in the road with lead in two different directions. On the corner of the fork was three signs saying 'Shortcut to right' and 'Long way to the right' and underneath the shortcut sign was a smaller sign saying: 'Only one can take the shortcut'._

_Being the wise, Crane chose the right path while using his knowledge to trick the others to buy him time to take the shortcut. So Crane took the shortcut while Crow and Bull took the long way._

_While Crow and Bull were racing Crow began to overtake Bull. So using his wealth Bull called upon a group of geese to fly in crow's path so he could gain the upper hand. However, because he paid so many geese to fly all their poo splattered on the road below them and Bull slipped and fell.' _Deidara paused and grimaced as the image entered his mind. Little D picked up on Deidara's hesitation and looked up at the blonde confused.

'Gah.' Little D waved his arm in the air to get Deidara's attention; Deidara snapped out of his thoughts and continued reading to the small boy.

'_The geese flew away ashamed that they failed Bull while Crow used that opportunity to fly ahead of the injured Bull._

_Finally Crane saw the finish line. He flew excitedly towards it. Once again his wisdom and knowledge had helped him and he was about to win immortality. But he was stopped short when saw Crow shortly behind him. Panicking, Crane flapped even faster and turned around to face Crow saying 'Ha-ha, because of my wisdom and knowledge I am going to beat you.'_

_But as he said that, Crane flew straight into a tree because he wasn't watching where he was going._

_Proudly, Crow the Death flew through the finish line and was granted immortality while all the other animals sat back exhaustedly watching Crow flaunt his new victory.'_

The baby squeeled with delight when Deidara let him turn the last page. 'Well that was a depressing story yeah. Your mum reads you this sort of stuff little D?' Deidara asked worriedly.

'I thought it was a very good story.' Nasake's voice chimed and Deidara turned to the door and saw Nasake leaning against the door post listening to the story. 'Who can outrun death?'

'That may be so, but is that really something to be reading a kid yeah?' Deidara asked, standing to his feet and while holding the baby, placing the book back on the shelf.

'Well,' Nasake smiled and shrugged. She walked over to Deidara and carefully took her baby and held him lovingly to her heart. 'I thought it would be a good idea to get the message into him from an early age…I don't want him to be so proud that he thinks he can cheat death.' Nasake smiled at her son.

Deidara watched the two curiously. It was an interesting theory he thought to himself. Nasake turned around to the door and on her way to the living room. 'Oh Deidara, dinners ready.' Deidara smiled, _Right, I'm there!_

xxxxx

Deidara walked into the Hokage's office silently and bowed respectively to the blonde woman behind the desk.

'Deidara.' The woman said and Deidara straightened to look at her. 'I have a favour to ask of you.' Tsunade smirked.

Deidara's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Did he really trust her enough to do her a favour? _This can't be good._

'I know you aren't a shinobi anymore but I want you to go on a special mission for me.' Tsunade pulled a piece of paper from her desk and handed it to Deidara. 'I need you to use your spying experience to watch this family and report to me anything strange about them. They've been under surveillance for several weeks now and it's time for someone to go in. If they sense the person we send in is a ninja then they'll completely clam up and we won't get any information, so what better person to send in than you?'

Tsunade smirked at Deidara as he read over the paper. 'Why don't you ask Itachi to do it yeah?' He asked.

'I did.' Tsunade replied flatly and Deidara sighed.

'What's in it for me?' He finally asked. 'I'm living with someone at the moment and I don't want to cause any trouble for her yeah.'

'I'm aware of your living conditions and no trouble will come to them; we will pay you for your troubles.' Tsunade turned back to more of her notes and handed Deidara more information.

'Here is the family you'll be investigating. Before I tell you more, do you accept?'

Deidara paused for a moment. Nodding slowly, he took the paper and read over it. Clipped onto the front page was a photo of a couple who looked to be in their fifties, dressed in dull coloured robes and bored expressions on their faces. The woman in the picture was holding a small girl, and in front of the couple were two other children-A girl and the eldest was a boy.

'The couple in the photo are Fuka and Warui Ketseuki and those are their children. Fuka Ketseuki is the younger brother of the head of the Nohara clan here in the village. He was always bitter that his older brother inherited the title of Head of the family because his brother Yasuka has been sickly since he was a small child. Warui Ketseuki is the oldest child of the Head of the Ketseuki clan. They are a small clan that aren't very well known; they also have no shinobi in their clan and mainly deal in politics and bureaucratic matters; trades with other villages selling seals and scrolls. I won't go into too much about them because it's not that important, but you need to know that although they are small, they are strong, intelligent and have many people who require their services.

'Fuka and Warui's marriage was a political one and when Fuka married Warui, he adopted her clan's name. Fuka never dwelt much in his brother's affairs but he was outraged when he heard of the birth of Yasuka's first child: a girl.'

Deidara raised an eyebrow, 'So basically, Fuka is angry that the title of Head is with his older, sickly, brother and is going to go to his niece, yeah. Clans are pathetic.' Deidara sighed dramatically.

Tsunade nodded and continued. 'It doesn't stop there. The hostility grew when Yasuka declined Fuka's proposal for the Heiress of the Nohara Clan to marry Fuka's first born Kaien Ketseuki.'

Deidara's eyes snapped open, 'Wait. What? That's gross yeah, they're cousins.'

'It's not unheard of for Clan members to intermarry.' Tsunade replied patiently. 'Fuka will do anything to get into the main household and now 15 years after Yasuka's daughter, Shizuka, was born, the main household has requested that there be an investigation into Fuka and Warui. They say that they fear for the Heiresses safety since Fuka has become increasingly estranged from the family.'

'So where do I come in yeah?' Deidara asked.

'You are going to work in the Ketseuki clan household as their son's martial arts trainer and find out as much as you can about Fuka's plans subtly so they don't know you are investigating them by befriending their son. I'll send you your uniform by tomorrow and you'll start in two days, on the Monday.'

Deidara nodded and Tsunade dismissed him from her office. He needed the money so he wasn't going to complain, and any chance he got to screw with a clan, he leapt at it. _Clans are always so uptight._ He laughed every time he got the chance to annoy one.


	10. Chapter 10

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 10

That Monday had started like any other. Deidara woke up, got dressed, had breakfast with Nasake and little D and went to work at the Yamanaka shop. He stayed there until lunch time and would have stayed longer except he got a surprise visit from Inoichi Yamanaka himself!

Deidara was so shocked at the surprise visit that he could hardly find his words. Ino, who had been working that day, was also shocked. Neither of the teens had seen Inoichi for weeks.

When Inoichi had seen Deidara working in the shop he pulled him out the back of the shop to talk to him privately. He pulled him into one of the rooms and Deidara saw Mrs Yamanaka dressed in flowery robes, her long blonde hair tied in a tight bun, ands he was sitting in the centre of the room on a cushion. Next to her cushion was another cushion and both cushions were facing one lone cushion prepared for Deidara.

Inoichi moved to sit next to his wife and Deidara sat opposite them on his cushion.

Inoichi spoke first. 'Deidara, I received a message from the Hokage today in regards to your mission. I understand the secrecy behind the mission and as your employer I will give you three weeks leave for the mission. My daughter doesn't need to know.'

Deidara bowed his head respectfully and replied, 'Thank you sir. But I was hoping to still work here while I had my mission. My job as Martial Arts Instructor doesn't start until after lunch every afternoon, so I was thinking I could work here in the mornings and leave part way through the day to go to the dojo.'

He waited for a reply and after several seconds Inoichi grunted in approval. 'Fine, you may continue working here but as part time. Make sure you get rest; dismissed.' Deidara rose from his cushion and bowed to the Yamanaka's before walking back to the front of the shop to pack up and leave for the Dojo.

Deidara stood outside the Ketseuki Clan's dojo in his black keikoji and hakama; his clothes were fastened by a belt the same shade of black tied firmly around his waist. He wore a dark grey, black trimming, robe that bore the Ketseuki Clan's symbol clearly on the back. He breathed one last sigh to relax himself and opened the door to the dojo to meet his new student.

In the centre of the dojo stood a teenage boy and an older man who both matched the only men in the photo Deidara was given, perfectly. The older man had receding hair and a grumpy expression while the younger person, the boy, looked similar to his father except he looked a millennia younger. He had dark brown, messy hair and also wore a bored expression on his face. The boy wore a dark, dull green hakama and a white keikoji with dark green trimmings (probably the student's uniform for the Ketseuki clan).

Deidara walked further into the dojo, stopped in front of the pair and bowed. 'My name is Deidara, I am here to teach your son.'

The man grunted as he eyed Deidara, 'Bout time, but I was expecting someone a little more...Experienced.'

Deidara smirked, 'Sir, I can assure you that I am fully experienced in martial arts as I graduated first in my class.' He paused. 'Oh and I skipped a couple of years.' He added proudly when the man didn't say anything.

The older man smirked, 'Well then. Welcome to my dojo and here is my son Kaien Ketseuki, heir to the Ketseuki clan. He will be your student. I will check up on you both at 4 pm. That leaves you with 3 hours of training every day.'

The man turned to his son and frowned disapprovingly before turning around and leaving for the main house, leaving Deidara and Kaien by themselves in the dojo.

The two young men just stood awkwardly, staring at one another. 'So-uh, nice dad you got there.' Deidara laughed nervously.

'I wish I could say he isn't as you think…' The boy mumbled back.

'Ouch.' Deidara winced from the teenager's bluntness.

Deidara turned to the boy and smirked a bit. 'So what do you already know about marital arts kid?'

The boy frowned, 'I'm not a kid. And I don't know much about it.'

Deidara turned his head to the side and looked down at the boy from the corner of his eye. 'Oh yeah? So how old are you anyway?'

'16.'

'Well you're my student, so I will call you whatever I like. You won't get any special treatment from me _kid_.'

The boy growled and lunged for Deidara's face with his clenched fist. Wrapping his strong hand around the boy's hand, Deidara turned his head to face downwards so he was looking the boy in the eye. 'First rule, don't be eager to fight. You will 98% of the time leave an opening for the opponent.' Then Deidara finished by shifting his grip from the boy's hand to the boy's wrist and gave a tug down so the boy lost his balance and fell hard on his chest. Kaien fell to the floor in a heap and growled from the ground as Deidara walked around to Kaien's face; Kaien glared from the ground at Deidara's bare feet and refused to move.

'Well, aren't you going to help me up?' The boy growled in frustration. Deidara let out an amused laugh.

'What happened to your own arms and legs? If they're still there, then get up and use them kid.'

'I told you to stop calling me that.' The boy hissed from the ground.

Deidara frowned, 'Tell you what? If you can land a punch on me then I'll stop calling you "kid". Got that?'

Suddenly Kaien sprang to his feet, pushing off the tatami mats on the ground and lunged for Deidara again. Just as he thought he was going to punch Deidara in the stomach, Deidara sidestepped and Kaien lost his balance again and fell to the floor.

'Rule 2, only attack once you have balance, otherwise you'll fall. If this was a real fight I would kill you easily because of the opening you just created; focus.' Deidara placed his hands on his hips patiently at the boy on the ground.

The rest of the session was spent with Deidara dodging lame attacks by Kaien and Kaien growing increasingly frustrated. Deidara was amused at Kaien's frustration and desire to hit his master but he never relented. He even punched and kneed Kaien to motivate the boy more occasionally.

Exactly three hours later their session was interrupted when Fuka Ketseuki entered the dojo to end the training session between his son and the new instructor. 'Has he improved?' The man grumbled, ignoring the panting boy on the ground as he talked to the calm and unfazed Deidara.

Deidara raised an eyebrow, 'Sir, he won't show any sign of improving until a few lessons. No one picks up martial arts after just one lesson.' Deidara moved to Kaien and smirked at him, 'Maybe you'll land a punch next time kid. See'ya tomorrow.' And he headed for the door to go report back to the Hokage, leaving Kaien and Fuka to go about the rest of their day.

xxxxx

'So how was your first training session with your new student?' Tsunade smiled curiously at Deidara who was changed into his black slacks and green shirt and blue sandals.

Deidara just grunted, 'It was alright yeah. The kid's a brat and the father is a cold jerk.'

'I thought as much.' Tsunade smirked and leaned further over her desk, 'And how was it going 3 hours without saying 'yeah'?'

Deidara frowned and remembered back to their conversation earlier that day.

'_Oh Deidara, while on your mission you'll get rid of that stupid 'yeah' at the end of all your sentences.' Tsunade sighed from boredom._

_Deidara felt his vein in his temple suddenly pulse out and he lost his temper, 'Like hell I will!'_

_Tsunade raised an eyebrow accusingly at Deidara and spoke slowly, 'I'm sorry but who's the Hokage? Stop arguing with me brat.' _

_Deidara gritted his teeth angrily._

'…I survived…' Deidara growled.

'Good to hear. Report back to me tomorrow after your next session with the son. Try and develop a friendship with the boy to get the information.' Tsunade replied and tossed a small envelope to Deidara, who caught it expertly.

He opened it and revealed notes of money that made him smile from satisfaction. 'See you tomorrow.' He replied with a lazy wave and walked out the door.

xxxxx

'Itachi Uchiha, you are to come with us quietly. The Hokage wishes to speak with you.' The ANBU spoke monotone to the young raven haired man. Itachi just stood, still holding the full rubbish bin he was emptying outside Ichiraku.

'Does it have to be now? I am in the middle of a job right now.' Itachi asked to the two ANBU who just stared at him through their masks.

'Uchiha, if you don't come willingly then we will have to take you by force.' The snake ANBU spoke.

'That won't be necessary.' Teuchi's voice interrupted Itachi whose mouth was opened to reply. Itachi turned to the side door to Ichiraku where Teuchi and Ayame stood looking at him. 'Boy: if the Hokage wants to speak with you then go.'

Itachi nodded and turned back to the ANBU and nodded to them as well, placing the bin down on the ground, all three of them left for the Hokage mansion.

When he arrived at the Mansion, Itachi was lead through many corridors by the ANBU until he reached a large red door. The two ANBU opened it and ushered for the young man to enter.

When Itachi entered he was taken aback by the sight of the Hokage and many clan representatives around a round table in the centre of the room.  
><em>Oh great, I'm here for a meeting with the clan heads, not just the Hokage.<em> He thought to himself unhappily. Walking further into the room, Tsunade pointed for a chair two seats away from her that was available for Itachi to be seated at. It was the same chair his father most likely sat at when he was alive as Uchiha clan leader.

Quietly, Itachi sat down in the chair and bowed his head to each clan leader.

'Itachi I have called you here for the weekly Hokage-Clan meeting.' Tsunade smirked at the boy's uncomfortable reaction.

'I'm sorry Lady Hokage, but I don't believe I should be here.' Itachi spoke quietly.

Tsunade frowned, 'Are you questioning me? If I am not mistaken, you are the head of the Uchiha clan are you not?'

Itachi frowned sadly and listened to one of the other clan heads speak up. A plump man with a sour look on his round face, 'Ha, what clan? He wiped them all out!'

A few of the other heads nodded in agreement. Tsunade's eyes flickered in between leaders and Itachi irritated, but amused while wondering what Itachi's reaction would be.

'Irrelevant.' She said dismissively. 'Whether there is a clan to govern or not, he is still head of it.'

Two of the other leaders nodded in agreement with the Hokage.

'Anyway, we have called you here to discuss something very important.' Tsunade continued. 'The Clan Heads brought up an interesting point the other day.' Tsunade began, 'You were in ANBU once yes?' Itachi nodded, 'It has come to my realisation that if you were to be, say, abducted, in the vulnerable state that you are in, the enemy could extract information regarding Konoha from you easily and use it against us. The Clan Heads would feel much safer if you were to have your memories of your time in ANBU completely erased.'

Tsunade's words rung loudly in Itachi's mind as he listened to her. All other talk in the room was dim compared to what she just said, and he continued to play it over in his head. Erase his memories of ANBU?

Tsunade noticed Itachi's discomfort and turned her gaze to Inoichi Yamanaka—who was standing in the corner of the room closest to the Hokage, to continue, 'Uchiha, it won't hurt. You will however, feel weak for the maximum of a day. It would be very beneficial for the village if you didn't remember your time in ANBU.'

Itachi looked up to Inoichi, 'Can you read my memories while you are extracting them?'

Inoichi frowned suspiciously, 'Yes. And I will be looking for information on Akatsuki if that is what you are implying.' _That's not what I'm concerned about._ Itachi though with a sigh.

Tsunade turned to Itachi, 'Itachi. Everyone here is sworn to secrecy. If they were to leak anything it would be at the cost of their own life.'

'If it is only Yamanaka looking through my mind I'll survive, but, I do not regard myself as head of the Uchiha clan. Therefore, I don't wish to be involved in Konoha politics. I have left the Uchiha name for my younger brother should he wish to accept it.'

'Your brother!' One of the women shrieked. Everyone turned to her and Itachi frowned. 'Your brother is a more wanted criminal that you were. What makes you think you can just _give_ the Uchiha clan's title to _him_?'

There was silence. Itachi was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he said "because I own the Uchiha name" then they would make him join the council. If he said: "It is my wish to give my brother the Uchiha name, but I hold no authority over it" then he would lose the Uchiha name for both himself and Sasuke to the village.  
>Gritting his teeth he replied, 'As the current head of the Uchiha clan, I will chose who inherits it should I fall.'<p>

Tsunade and a few other council members smirked. Tsunade spoke next, trying to hold back a small cackle. 'Well, it's decided then. Itachi as you are not yet "fallen,"' Tsunade emphasised the word for dramatic effect, "and you are alive, you are the head of the Uchiha clan, and with such a position, you are required by Konoha law to attend these council meetings and represent your clan... No matter the size.'

Itachi growled inwardly and sat quietly for the rest of the meeting.


	11. Chapter 11

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 11

'See anything Inoichi?' Ibiki's gruff voice spoke as Inoichi was concentrating through the mind and memories of Itachi Uchiha.

They had been at it for an hour and Inoichi was still searching. Ibiki was growing concerned as Inoichi's face flickered with different expressions of nervousness and concentration. Whose idea was it to invade Itachi's mind anyway? Whoever came up with that idea had no idea what they were talking about.

Inside the unconscious boy's mind, Inoichi searched through large scrolls of memories, ranging from Itachi's childhood to the time he was rescued and brought back to Konoha. He was looking for _everything_ that involved Konoha politics and information, and _anything_ on Akatsuki. Starting from when Itachi was four he swept through the memories.

_The young raven haired child stood, eyes dead and emotionless, as he watched his fellow clansmen and villager's fall. Blood smeared his tiny face and stained his clothes. Helplessly he stood amongst the dead bodies and debris of the 3__rd__ Great Shinobi War. _

_Hearing a strangled noise, the young Itachi turned his gaze slowly to his left and stared lifelessly into the eyes of a young man who was taking his last breaths. The boy watched the colour drain from the man's face to a ghostly white: the pained, silent scream still etched onto his face._

_The boy turned back to the scene in front of him hopelessly._

Inoichi frowned further. The downside to using the mind reading jutsu was that the user often felt the person's emotions, if those emotions were strong enough.

Tearing away from that scene, Inoichi flicked to another part in the scroll a little further on in the boy's life.  
>He was confronted by a scene of a young Itachi in a dark room in his house, kneeling, facing his parents with his three-tomoe sharingan ablaze. He only appeared no less than eight years old.<p>

His mother wore a nervous and fearful look on her face as she glanced between her prodigy son and her powerful husband.  
>Itachi's father stood tall over Itachi with a proud, greedy smile plastered on his face. <em>'That's my boy. It's all working out perfectly.'<em>

Inoichi flickered through more images and scenes from Itachi's life. He reached another scene where Itachi would be around 13.

_The raven haired boy stood emotionlessly in the Hokage's office in his new ANBU uniform._

'_Congratulations on being promoted to ANBU, Itachi.' The Third Hokage said. And with a regretful voice he continued, 'I have an assignment for you of the utmost secrecy and importance.'_

_Itachi's eyes looked down sadly._

Inoichi continued to a new scene.

_Itachi kneeled in an underground meeting area beside his father and mother, facing pretty much, the entire Uchiha clan. Everyone's sharingan was activated and they stared intensely towards the head family._

_Itachi's father spoke proudly and confidently. 'Ha-ha, now that my son is in ANBU, we can use him as a spy and he will give me information regarding Konoha, which will aid us in our coup d'ètat against Konoha. We will finally have power over the village.'  
>The man, and many other Uchiha clansmen, chuckled triumphantly to themselves. Itachi just sat quietly, looking emotionlessly at a spot on the ground.<em>

Inoichi grew fearful as he delved deeper into Itachi's darkest memories. He was already uncovering top, top secret Konoha information that he wasn't sure he was even supposed to know.

_The ANBU teenager stood on the roof of the Hokage tower knelt behind the Hokage respectfully. His head was down helplessly as the Hokage spoke gravely. 'I cannot express how sorry I am Itachi. I tried. But it has to be done.' His voice sounded as though it cracked on the last sentence._

'_It's not your fault sir.' Itachi spoke quietly and emotionlessly._

Inoichi continued.

_Itachi appeared on the Hokage tower behind the Hokage in a respectful bow again. It was late at night and although he was trying, Itachi couldn't stop the tears running down his pale, blood smeared face._

_Calming himself, Itachi spoke pleadingly to the Hokage, 'Please, _please_ look after Sasuke in my absence.'_

_The Hokage nodded but remained quiet._

_Itachi stood and regained his composure before turning to three figures in the shadows. 'And _you_.' He barked fiercely to the three. 'If any of you harm Sasuke, I will leak every piece of information I have on Konoha to its enemies.'_

_And the teen turned to flee the village and begin his life as a wanted criminal._

Inoichi paused. What had he just seen?  
>The memories continued to flow.<p>

_The young raven haired teen was small compared to the rest of the black cloaked men and one woman in the group. He was now wearing his own black cloak with red clouds and was partnered with a ghostly pale, medium length-black haired, man with an evil aura around him. The pair hadn't been partnered long (probably only a week) and they were walking to one of the many Akatsuki hideouts.  
>As they were walking up a huge flight of stairs (Itachi in the lead) Itachi could feel someone growing increasingly closer to him. He activated his sharingan and turned slightly to see his partner- Orochimaru- reaching towards him with his long spindly fingers. Snakes started to slither out of his long sleeve and tried to wrap around Itachi.<br>The boy acted immediately. He threw Orochimaru into the Sharingan's genjutsu to confuse the older man and when he was released from the snakes that were trying to coil around him, he sliced Orochimaru's left hand clean from his arm.'Orochimaru, your jutsu's are nothing when against my sharingan.' Itachi smirked while holding the bloody kunai in the air._

_Orochimaru was gone after that._

Inoichi shuddered at the sight of the evil Orochimaru. Everyone knew who he was, and the blonde man found some satisfaction in seeing the man having Orochimaru's hand sliced off.

The next scene was after Itachi got partnered up with a tall blue man with a large sword.

_Itachi, his big blue partner Kisame and the puppet master Sasori all waited for the squirt to enter the building. They stood still as the young blonde boy entered, and they studied him closely._

'_You sure the Leader wants this brat?' The small puppet master asked, slightly put-out at recruiting such a young child.  
>The boy looked around 13 because of his height, but from what they were told, he was 11.<em>

'_Deidara,' Itachi began. 'Akatsuki wishes for you to join us.'_

_The boy laughed to himself, 'Hell no.'_

_The three strange men in cloaks were quiet. Then Itachi spoke up, 'Then we will force you to join. If you beat me in a fight then you won't have to join Akatsuki, however, if you don't beat me then you must join us.'_

'That explains how he joined.' Inoichi thought to himself. 'He didn't want to be a part of it.'

He flicked through several memories of Itachi travelling to various places with the blue man and gathering certain things for Akatsuki. He also saw the faces of the other Akatsuki members.

He had gathered a lot of useful information in regards to Akatsuki, but there was something else Tsunade had requested that he look for.  
>How had the two of them managed to get caught by such low level ninja?<p>

Flicking further through Itachi's memories, Inoichi came across the very thing he was looking for.

_Both boys, blonde and raven haired, stood slumped and panting after their long sparring. They were completely exhausted, but were still willing to destroy one another._

'_Wh-When will you learn, idiot?' Itachi puffed, trying to dissuade Deidara from fighting anymore._

_Deidara growled angrily, 'I _will_ beat you one day yeah!'_

_Suddenly there was a loud rustling and both boys were pushed to the ground by someone heavy. Itachi growled in protest but the weight on top of him ignored him. Two more figures appeared after that and Itachi listened to Deidara's angry cries._

'_Get the hell off me yeah!' But the figures continued to ignore them. Suddenly a sharp pain pierced through their necks and both of the boys succumbed to a drug induced sleep._

Inoichi was curious.

_Itachi opened his eyes to the sound of Deidara's screams. The room was dark. Very dark. The only lights were the dim lamps on the walls and a bright light coming from the screams. He tried to move his arms but Itachi found that he was bound by something. With no energy, he turned his head weakly in the direction of Deidara and saw three figures standing over him. The blonde boy was stripped down to only his black shorts and the bright light was flooding into Deidara. What were they doing to him?_

_Deidara let out one last scream from pain._

_When Deidara lost consciousness, the three figures moved over to Itachi. Itachi could feel a cold wet liquid trace over his torso as his captors wrote something all over his bare chest, legs and arms. With some hand seals, the three figures performed the same jutsu on Itachi.  
>The raven haired teenager gritted his teeth defiantly, not wanting to give his captors the satisfaction of his screams, he held his screams in. In the end, he panted and passed out feeling completely drained.<em>

_Itachi sat back in his cold cell inspecting some of his new injuries._

_That was the first time in his entire life he had _ever_ been treated in such a disrespectful way, and it left him sore all over. The whole time such awful things were happening to him he was praying that he would just die._

_Thankfully the monster had promised Itachi that he would be used for experiments instead of pleasure the next time he was taken from his cell. Wait; was that something to be thankful for? Yes and no. Either way, Itachi was in a crap situation._

That was enough. The memories after that were just of Itachi's time as a prisoner, and frankly, Inoichi didn't want to see that. From what he read on the reports, he already knew pretty well what happened in that mansion.

Inside Itachi's mind, Inoichi made several hand seals before erasing all the memories that involved secret information and jutsu's used on Konoha. There were some things he had to leave though. Some were just too big to erase from his memories; namely, the massacre mission.

Removing his hand from Itachi's head, Inoichi closed his eyes, tired as much as Itachi soon would be. Ibiki went to Inoichi's side and placed a reassuring hand on his comrade's shoulder.

Inoichi sighed, 'Never again.'

Ibiki understood perfectly as they both turned to the unconscious young man in front of them. Next step was getting him to the hospital for examination.

At the hospital, Itachi opened his eyes slowly and took in the familiar sight of a hospital room. He had been here so many times that it bored him the instant he opened his eyes. The familiar white ceiling; the same white curtains; the boring white tiles on the floor and the strong smell of antiseptic and cleaning products.

His entire body felt sluggish and unresponsive so slowly Itachi turned his heavy head to the direction of another person's breathing in the room  
>'Hey kid.' The familiar, deep voice of Jiraiya travelled through the air in the room to Itachi's ear. Jiraiya rose from the chair he was sitting on and walked over to Itachi. 'How do you feel?' He asked.<p>

Itachi groaned tiredly, 'I've been better. What happened?' He asked.

'They erased your memories of ANBU. And before you even try, don't even think about ANBU because it will only end with you feeling like crap every time you do.'

'Noted.' Itachi closed his eyes.

'You need sleep.' Jiraiya said, 'I'm gonna go tell the nurses to give you a couple more hours in here to catch up on some rest. Oh! A girl, Ayame, I think her name is, came in to see you earlier. But she left when we said you were still resting.'

Itachi heard him, but chose not to respond; he pretended he was already asleep, so Jiraiya left with a smirk.


	12. Chapter 12

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 12

Three days passed since Itachi was released from hospital and everything was back to normal. Itachi hadn't heard from Inoichi or Tsunade since he had his mind read but that didn't bother him. He just wanted to bet back to his life in the Ramen Shop.

Deidara was having a harder time though. With him running two very physical jobs, plus babysitting a young baby at night while its mother went out with friends, Deidara was running low on steam. He was lasting, but he already suffered from irregular sleeping habits because of his nightmares anyway.  
>Every night he was plagued by the awful images of his time in captivity and all the things Chikan Yutaka did to him while he was there. He had gone to the hospital to get something to help him sleep better, but even with sleeping tablets, he wasn't able to get much sleep.<br>If he didn't have the memories menacing his mind, they would always come back quickly when he noticed the scars riddling his body.

At the dojo, Deidara went through the usual routine of self-defence with Kaien. Deidara and the boy were growing on one another. If Kaien was having a particularly bad day, Deidara would pause the training to talk with him (saying it isn't good to fight while distracted, which is true, but he needed to get information) and find out what is troubling him.

Deidara learnt that Kaien was always being hounded by his overbearing father and neurotic mother. Deidara learned that Kaien's youngest sister Natsume was suffering because of her crazy mother because she wasn't allowed outside. Natsume had developed anxiety and as a result, shook excessively whenever she was put in an unfamiliar situation or on the spot. She was always walking on eggshells around her parents; especially her mother.

Deidara hadn't learnt much about Kaien's other sister, Shiori, as she was usually very reclusive and withdrawn. Often Shiori would be found in a library somewhere.  
>Deidara had learnt much about Kaien as well. The boy saw no trouble in confiding with Deidara about family affairs, and Deidara listened patiently. Kaien would talk about his dream to bring his clan out of the darkness they pulled themselves into. He would talk about making his little sisters happy. Then he would talk about the more political and clan related things. Deidara listened carefully as Kaien would talk about his family's relationship with his uncle and cousins. Kaien said how he only ever met his cousin Shizuka twice. When she was born, a year after him and when her younger sister was born three years after that.<p>

Kaien would talk about how disgusted he was at the thought of his father trying to arrange a marriage between Shizuka and himself and expressed how totally opposed to the idea he was.

Deidara also learned that Kaien always thought highly of his uncle Yasuka and wished he had a stronger relationship with him.

All too soon, their sessions would be over and Deidara would have to leave.

Kaien and Deidara would refer to Fuka as a 'kill joy' behind his back whenever he showed up. Thank goodness he didn't know, it was bad enough he death stared them all the time as it were, without him knowing what they said behind his back.

xxxxx

Deidara walked into the Yamanaka shop early in the morning. Weeks had passed since he had taken his mission as martial arts instructor to Kaien Ketseuki and he was noticing something strange. Both his jobs were physical and demanding on the body and Deidara didn't realise just how troublesome they would be.  
>His sleeping habits were irregular is it were, but if he wanted the extra money then he had to live with the sleep deprivation and overcome it.<br>The past week was when Deidara started to realise something was seriously wrong. He would snap at anything and anyone, suddenly and without warning. He would feel like he was being watched or something was going on, but nothing was wrong. Occasionally his vision would blur in and out of focus and he had a terrible time concentrating and remembering things.

Finishing arranging a bouquet of flowers inside the shop, Deidara was battling with his sleep deprivation. No way was he giving in when all that money was at stake.

His breathing quickened when he stood and almost lost his balance from dizziness. _How has Kaien not been able to land a single punch on me yet? This is pathetic._ Deidara thought angrily to himself.

Resting one of his hands on the wall in front of him, Deidara steadied himself and exhaled deeply. His mind was quickly growing fuzzy and his breathing was becoming strange.

'Deidara?' Ino's quiet voice broke through his attempt at relaxation. Hesitantly, she placed a gentle hand on her co-worker's shoulder in an attempt to see if he was alright.

Suddenly Deidara grabbed her wrist, pulled her around him so her back was to the wall; Ino gasped nervously when she noticed Deidara hovering close to her body. Ino's eyes widened fearfully and she contemplated sending the man flying across to the other side of the shop, but when she looked closely into his eyes, she could see them focus and un-focus repeatedly. She could see the confusion on his face as his eyebrows furrowed together and small beads of sweat formed on his forehead; his mouth was set in a small and confused grimace.

Quickly, Ino ran through different senarios in her mind and various ways to handle them. She quickly came to the conclusion to calm herself and then try to calm Deidara down. Something was wrong.

Carefully and lightly, Ino placed her free hand on Deidara's heating cheek and his unfocused gaze flickered to make contact with Ino's gaze.

'Deidara,' Ino spoke quietly again, hoping to calm him down. It did the opposite. By saying his name, Deidara completely lost his self and grabbed Ino's other wrist, pinning both her wrists to the wall above her head forcefully. He had no idea what was happening.  
>As if pinning her wrist to the wall wasn't enough, Deidara's body started to act on its own as he pushed his groin onto Ino. She started panicking as she felt something hard press into her and she felt the quick and heavy breathing from the man pinning her to the wall.<p>

But she never made any sudden movements; she just watched Deidara. He was so confused and his mind went completely hazy. He pressed his lips forcefully onto Ino's lips and his tongue pushed through her lips and explored inside her mouth. Ino let out a scared moan and tried to pull her head away. Deidara immediately broke contact with her lips and began kissing her neck greedily and forcefully.

_His touch feels so good. Do I just let him continue? _Ino remained quiet for several minutes as Deidara explored her porcelain skin greedily; occasionally letting out involuntary moans. After a minute of exploring Ino's neck, Deidara moved his lips back up to hers and kissed them forcefully again; this time Ino kissed back, enjoying the contact with Deidara. _His lips are so soft._  
>Finally, as Deidara began to move one of his hands up Ino's stomach to caress her waiting breasts, she couldn't take it any longer.<p>

'Deidara,' Ino pulled back. Suddenly Deidara pushed off of Ino and forced himself to the floor a couple of meters away from the scared girl.

His eyes were still swimming and he couldn't hold a single coherent though, but he had heard it. He _felt_ it. The greedy desire in his heart and the scared cries of the girl he had pinned to the wall. Closing his eyes and grabbing the hair on his head roughly, trying desperately to bring his senses back, 'I'm sorry. Please-' Deidara threw his head to the floor and let out a frustrated growl trying to calm himself.

Ino slumped to the floor and watched the young confused man who had just attacked her.

Deep inhales and exhales were calming Deidara, but it was too much for him. Quickly sleep overpowered him and he was passed out on the shop floor.  
>Everything was quiet for a minute as Ino thought what to do. What had just happened anyway?<br>A quiet sound of footsteps entered the room from the back of the shop and Ino gasped when she saw her father walking into the room.  
>He wore an incredibly serious expression on his face as he eyed the unconscious boy on his shops floor and his frightened daughter looking up at him. 'Father,' Ino gasped. 'What-How long have you been standing there?'<p>

Inoichi turned his fierce gaze to his daughter. 'How long were you just going to let him do those things to you? Are you not a kunoichi?'

Ino bowed her head ashamed.

Inoichi moved over to where Deidara lay on the ground and grabbed one of the boy's arms. He pulled the arm around his shoulders and used his own arm wrapped around Deidara's back, to support him.  
>Ino rose to her feet and moved over to her father and the unconscious Deidara. 'What's wrong with him?' She asked nervously.<p>

Inoichi held Deidara firmly and moved to the entrance to the shop with him. 'He's just tired. On top of his fatigue, he didn't need you encouraging him when he isn't in the right state of mind. Don't _ever_ let someone do that to you again.' Inoichi barked to Ino before he left for the hospital.

xxxxx

A week had passed after the incident at the Yamanaka flower shop and neither Inoichi nor Ino brought it up with Deidara; and the boy showed no signs of remembering what happened anyway.

Obviously, being Kaien's instructor had to be put on hold for a while so Deidara could recover, and soon he was back at work again.  
>He missed training Kaien. The two of them had grown on each other and Deidara missed the sparring. He had been back at work for three days when he uncovered <em>big<em> information in regards to Fuka Ketseuki. He had been walking from the dojo after a training session with Kaien when he overheard two of Fuka's bodyguards discussing an assassination attempt on the Nohara clan. Deidara was instantly intrigued and listened further.  
>The bodyguards continued talking about Fuka's "crazy plan to kill his brother" and then what he had been waiting for; a date. Deidara smirked at the bodyguards' stupidity and rushed to the Hokage's office to report the details.<p>

Exactly five days later Deidara crept through the dark, wooden house of the Nohara main household stealthily. No one was supposed to know he was there; so calling upon his years of experience as a shinobi, Deidara crept through the house quietly.  
>Creeping his way through the rooms, Deidara stopped when he heard something. Just as he was about to open one of the sliding doors, two strong hands pushed him through the fragile paper door and forced him to the cold wooden floor below.<br>Pinned to the floor underneath him, Deidara let out a frustrated growl and turned his head in an attempt to see his attacker. The weight of a heavy man was perched on Deidara's back, holding his body to the ground; the pressure was restricting his breathing.

'Deidara?' The man asked, shocked. Deidara recognised the voice instantly as Fuka Ketseuki; just the man he was looking for. The heavy man leaned further forward, resting his hands on Deidara's head and pressed his weight down on it. 'Well, well, well. I never thought I would see you here. So are you a ninja?' Fuka laughed maliciously to the young man underneath him.

_Oh great_. Deidara thought to himself. The images of another man on top of him ripped through Deidara's mind. Memories of his time in the Yutaka Mansion sliced away at whatever feeling of bravery and confidence Deidara had worked up.

But he lay there quietly; gritting his teeth.

Fuka, who was still laughing on top of Deidara pulled out a dagger from his robes and lifted Deidara's head off the ground by his long blonde hair.  
>'Say goodbye.' Fuka hissed in Deidara's ear and raised his dagger to strike.<p>

_Thump._ Deidara's head fell to the hard floor.  
>With a grunt from the impact, Deidara blinked; he was alive! Then he saw it. Through the darkness in the room, Deidara saw dozens of loose, blonde locks around his head.<p>

His eyes widened; shocked and angry.  
>Fuka continued to laugh as he looked down at the now short-haired blonde young man underneath him.<p>

'You bastard, yeah. You cut my hair!' Deidara yelled angrily and in disbelief.

'I thought I would amuse myself before I killed my foolish brother and his beloved wife; starting with you.' Fuka chuckled.

That's when it happened. Suddenly surrounding the two of them were several ANBU and immediately they grabbed Fuka by his arms and pulled him away from Deidara.  
>Deidara frantically crawled to his knees and stared at his blonde locks on the ground as he pulled them hopelessly into his shaking hands.<br>_No way._

All noises: Fuka's yells and screams, the sounds of the ANBU talking and the sounds of the shocked family of the main household as they awoke to the scene, were all completely drained out as Deidara could only focus on his severed hair on the ground and in his hands.

The anger boiled hotly inside Deidara, he rose suddenly to his feet and before anyone could stop him, he lunged for Fuka. Grabbing the man by his yukata, Deidara shook him violently.

'YOU BASTARD!' Deidara roared angrily and shook Fuka violently.

'Deidara,' one of the ANBU placed a rough and restraining hand on Deidara's shoulder. 'Enough. Your mission is over, please leave the premises immediately.'

Taking a sharp intake of air and a slow exhale, Deidara closed his eyes and stormed out of the Nohara household to go report to the Hokage.

xxxxx

Tsunade tried to hold town her chuckles. Placed a hand on her mouth, Tsunade struggled to fight against the sharp and watery prickling of tears in her eyes. The blonde boy in front of her hardly looked amused.

'Stop laughed yeah!' Deidara yelled angrily at the Hokage.  
>Defensively he placed a hand on his short and very unevenly cut hair on his head and turned away from the Hokage. As he turned his gaze to the right to avoid the Hokage, he noticed her assistant was also chuckling!<p>

Deidara growled angrily.

Wiping away some of her tears, Tsunade turned to the boy. 'Nice…Hair,' She laughed again.

'Fix it yeah!' Deidara yelled angrily at the blonde. _This is so not funny yeah!_

Turning more serious, Tsunade frowned slightly at the demanding boy in front of her. 'Fine,' she turned to Shizune to her left. 'Shizune, can you fix up his hair?'

The short black haired girl nodded with a smile and placed the Hokage's pet pig on the ground and rummaged in her weapons pouch for a kunai.

Patiently Deidara waited as the girl sliced through his remaining hair to cut it more evenly and clean it up. 'It's not perfect, but it'll do until you go to a proper barber.' She sighed in the end.

Walking in front of the boy, Shizune held up a small compact mirror for Deidara to see his new haircut.  
>His eyes widened visibly. Staring at him through the mirror was what he thought was himself but there was a blonde young man with blue eyes staring at him who had short, cleanly cut hair that made him look more like a guy than his previous long hair. He still had his fringe which hung down to his shoulders but it would have to be cut a little shorter. <em>I'm gonna have to trim that up to my eyebrow, otherwise it'll look funny yeah.<em> Deidara thought bitterly.

With a sigh, Deidara thanked the two women and exited the building to find his way back home.


	13. Chapter 13

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 13

To say that Ino was shocked to see Deidara's new haircut was the understatement of the century. She almost had a heart attack when the young man she worked with stepped into the shop. Her cheeks lit up a bright pink as she scanned her eyes up and down the handsome young blonde in front of her.

He wore his blue shirt, black sweat pants and black sandals. His bangs were shorter- barely reaching to his chin instead of its usual length on his neck- and he wore a white bandage around his forehead. Actually that didn't surprise her so much; it was the rest of his hair which was significantly shorter as it was cut short like a typical boy's style haircut, and his bangs were almost gone. Her heart rate quickened and to draw attention away from her obvious love for Deidara's new haircut, Ino invented various jokes that made fun of it.  
>Deidara pretended nothing was different about him when Ino asked him about his hair so she talked about it no further.<p>

The customers seemed very surprised as well. The elderly woman stopped by the next morning for flowers for her husband's grave and stayed for several minutes to complement Deidara's new hairstyle.  
>Awarena-san- when he showed up- didn't stay very long, but he gave Deidara a wink and sly grin. <em>'Who're you trying to impress Deidara-san?'<em> He asked nudging Deidara in the arm lightly before leaving when Deidara's mouth was opened in annoyance but turned to ignore him.

Everyone was interested in Deidara's new haircut.

The shop's bell rang loudly in the shop as another customer entered. Deidara- as he was crouched over a pot of flowers, arranging them perfectly- didn't look up as he responded. 'Sorry, we're closed for a lunch break yeah. Come back in half an hour.'

The person continued to walk further into the shop, ignoring Deidara and stopped behind the florist.

Turning, Deidara stood to see a young teenager standing behind him; arms folded across his chest accusingly. The boy was frowning at Deidara angrily.

'Kaien?' Deidara asked, surprised.

'You missed our training session yesterday.' He mumbled, looking away to avoid Deidara's eyes. 'Are you going to miss it again today?'

Deidara stared at the kid dumbly. 'Umm, do you still want me to train you after what happened yeah?'  
>There was no way the boy didn't know now that Deidara was his trainer only to capture the boy's father.<p>

The boy snapped his head around sharply at Deidara and looked at him fiercely in his eyes. 'Of course! That's even more reason!' Deidara smirked. He wouldn't mind training the boy a bit more.

The boy's gaze turned to the floor and his tone darkened, 'You know, after my father was arrested he was charged with two counts of conspiracy for murder, break-in and entering, conspiring with criminals and selling illegal weapons and scrolls to criminals and enemies. During the investigations my mother was also arrested for aiding my father and trying to flee the village while under investigation. Further investigation has shown that my mother was more into illegal things than my father, who mainly just focused on assassinating my uncle.'

Deidara waiting patiently as the boy told him all that happened. 'So what's happening with you and your sisters?'

'Well the Hokage and the Clan-heads had a council and made _me_ the head of the Ketseuki Clan!' Kaien laughed in disbelief. 'My sisters are in my care.'

Deidara smirked and wrapped his strong arm around the back of Kaien's neck and guided him to the door. 'Well kid,' Kaien frowned at the nickname. 'If you still _want_ me to teach you, I guess I can yeah.' Deidara laughed.  
>'I am <em>head<em> of the Ketseuki clan now. You address me with some respect.' Kaien held his chin high in an attempt at making himself seem bigger and more respect worthy than his blonde teacher next to him. Deidara looked down to the boy (who even though his head was held high, was still only up to Deidara's mouth in height) and smirked.

'Whatever, _kid_.' They both continued to the dojo where they trained for the rest of the afternoon.

xxxxx

_Sizzle, sizzle._ The ramen stew brewed in the cooking pot of the Ichiraku Ramen shop as Teuchi stirred it lightly.  
>'So how've you been Naruto?' Teuchi smiled at the knucklehead young boy at the counter. Itachi, who had his sleeves rolled up, his fringe pulled back by a white bandana and a damp drying towel slung over his shoulder, was leaning against the counter listening and smiling at Naruto's tales.<p>

'Well Kakashi sensei is about to teach me some new technique as soon as he gets out of hospital.' Naruto beamed excitedly. Teuchi and Itachi smiled at the young boy.

'Ah, that should be exciting for you.' Teuchi laughed as he poured the bowl of ramen for Naruto and placed it in front of the boy. 'What will you be learning?'

Naruto greedily slurped his noodles and looked up at the two men with a grin, 'I don't know yet, but it is probably gonna be really cool. Captain Yamato is gonna to be with us as well.' Naruto smiled and continued to slurp his noodles.

As he finished that bowl, Itachi poured Naruto another bowl and placed it in front of the hungry boy. Naruto suddenly looked up at the two men confused, 'Hey, where's Ayame?'

Itachi smiled at Naruto and replied coolly, 'She's travelling for a while.' Naruto just nodded and Teuchi decided to elaborate.

'She is travelling to different places to learn more recipes for our ramen shop.' Teuchi paused and both he and Itachi sighed as two bumbling fools entered the shop clumsily. Banging and crashing pots and blaming one another. 'And while my precious daughter is gone I had to hire these two because we were understaffed.' Teuchi rubbed a hand on his face as the two apprentices tried to prepare another bowl for Naruto.

'Naruto this is Matsu and Nishi, Teuchi's new apprentices.' Itachi held his hand in the air, pointing to the two idiots spilling ramen and accidentally dipping their fingers in it. Teuchi growled at the two men.

'No no no! You can't give a customer something like _that_. The meal has to be perfect! Make another one.' Teuchi frowned and turned back to Naruto. 'Sorry about that Naruto.'

Naruto laughed, 'Not a problem…But when's Ayame getting back?' The three men laughed.

xxxxx

Naruto walked to his favourite place in the village with Kakashi and Yamato after a long days training. He felt he still had a lot to learn but Kakashi and Yamato decided to give Naruto a break: so they were headed for Ichiraku.  
>As Naruto rounded the corner, he stopped dead.<p>

Running towards the bar, Naruto barged inside and saw Ayame standing, smiling while talking to her father and Itachi; as he barged inside all eyes turned to him.

'Naruto,' Ayame smiled. 'How've you been?' Naruto just gaped at her.

'What happened here?' He asked dumbfounded. His favourite place in the world was different.

'I turned it into a Tsukemen Bar instead of a Ramen Bar.' Ayame said proudly. Naruto's eyebrow twitched and he raised his fist frustrated; he sat down and Teuchi presented Naruto with the new Tsukemen and everyone waited for Naruto's reaction. Everyone could tell that Naruto wasn't happy about the change, but they were excepting worse.

As Naruto picked up his chopsticks and broke them, he and Ayame started to bicker over the new store. 'Naruto I can do what I want.' Ayame would bark at him.

Naruto fell silent, accepting the Tsukemen and Ayame smirked with victory.

Suddenly Ayame's eyes shot open with surprise and Itachi and Teuchi supressed a laugh as Naruto poured the two bowls together to make his favourite ramen. Ayame was outraged and roared at Naruto as Itachi and Teuchi had to stand aside to control their laughs. Naruto just ignored Ayame as he slurped his ramen happily.

xxxxx

Everyone in the village was in mourning. Another funeral was held for a fallen shinobi, but this jounin had an impact on everyone while he was alive. He was known by everyone, loved by everyone, and would be missed by everyone.

Asuma Sarutobi was killed while on a mission involving Akatsuki and the village watched as his body was brought back. They watched hopelessly as Asuma's beloved students were torn apart by the death of their sensei. Some people had tried to comfort the trio, but it was pointless. They needed to taste the revenge of killing the men who caused their sensei's death.

When Ino had returned from the mission, the Yamanaka shop was left in Deidara's care for a few days as Ino and her parents needed to mourn. Deidara had left them alone so they could have time together, but after a few days, Ino approached him wanting to talk to someone other than her parents. Deidara had sat and listened as Ino told him of how her sensei had died; Deidara had felt upset over the death even though he wasn't that close to the shinobi in the village.

The village was slowly recovering from the sudden death of Asuma, but it was sent reeling again when Kurenai announced that she was carrying a child: and it was Asuma's.

The new Tsukemen bar had closed the day of the funeral, but Teuchi had insisted that the people of the village try to move on from the tragedy, so he opened the bar the next day.

Almost a week after Asuma's death, Itachi was called to the Hokage's office while he was at work. He arrived in the Hokage's office less than 15 minutes after his summons and he walked into the Hokage's office nervously. The blonde busty woman sat at her desk, her face contorted from concentration. Itachi moved to stand in the centre of the room quietly. Shizune was also in the room holding the pig firmly and flashing nervous glanced between Tsunade and Itachi.

'Itachi,' Tsunade finally sighed. 'We have received some information that Sasuke has begun his search for you.'

Something inside Itachi knotted tightly when the Hokage spoke. He had expected this to happen eventually and he was prepared to accept his fate. He nodded for her to continue.

'He has assembled a small squad and is headed for Akatsuki. We expect him to realise you are no longer there and therefore will attempt to infiltrate the village to kill you shortly after.'

'Understood.' Itachi bowed and replied in his monotone voice. Tsunade frowned.

'Aren't you concerned?'

Itachi looked up to her and replied, 'It's what I've wanted all along.'

'To die by your brothers hands.' Tsunade gathered to make sense of it.

Itachi shook his head. 'No one wants to die by their little brother's hands, but I am doing this for him, so he can avenge our clan.'

xxxxx

It was a month since the Hokage was told that Sasuke was on the move to hunt down Itachi. Tsunade had made preparations in case a situation where Sasuke attacked the village actually happened, by installing tighter security and more efficient escape procedures for citizens. The village quietened down and went on with their lives shortly after Asuma's death, but there was a change in his student, Shikamaru.

The day had started like any other, the children got up and went to the academy, civilians started work in their shops, shinobi lined up for their next missions and the Hokage was greeted by another large pile of paperwork. Half-way through the day, Tsunade was suddenly interrupted when one of Jiraiya's frog summons entered her office with urgent and grim news. Inscribed on the frogs back was the last message from Jiraiya before he too was defeated by Akatsuki.

The village had no time to mourn properly as Tsunade sent them into high alert and gave the coded message to the Decipher Core and sent for Naruto.

Deidara took a day off work when they heard about Jiraiya. The man had been so good to both him and Itachi: he had stayed with them when they were in the hospital, he had checked up on them when they left the hospital and he had bought them clothes and things out of his own money when they needed help. He mourned his death.

The quiet of his room was too much after a while though and Deidara found himself wandering around the village looking for something to get his mind off his friends death. Walking through the streets of Konoha, Deidara trudged his feet, his hands tucked tightly into his pant pockets and his gaze glued to the ground. Happy laughter filled his ears as he continued down the street to no particular destination. Strange feelings of anger hurt and confusion pounded in Deidara as he continued walking. How could _anyone_ be so happy right now? Was there anyone who was sharing the same grief as him?

Deidara never stopped walking. Eventually he looked up from the ground as he sat on something hard from tiredness. Blank mind, Deidara held up his hand in a daze and started absent-mindedly looking at it as he turned it in the air. The bright orange rays from the hot evening sun illuminated his tanned skin as he held it up; he could feel the heat burning his arm and entire body, the odd bead of sweat from his long walk ran down his face and back occasionally.

Deidara sighed and closed his eyes as he put his head in his hands. He pushed his elbows into his upper thighs in frustration as he leaned on them, angry thoughts were racing in his head threatening to take over his body and punch something; he was so wrapped up in his frustration that Deidara never noticed a weight sit on the other end of the seat he was slumped on.

Deidara glanced up from his hands with tired eyes and his gaze met equally tired eyes from the man sitting quietly beside him. 'What the hell do you want yeah?' Deidara mumbled, resting his cheek in his right hand while still leaning on his legs with his elbow; he let his other arm fall into his lap.

The man gazed sadly and shook his head slowly, 'Drop the act Deidara, I may not have my sharingan but I can still see through you.'

Deidara's eyes snapped up at the passive black onyx eyed man next to him but they softened defeated, after a minute of glares. The two men turned their eyes away from the other and sat in silence for several minutes. The sun was setting, but neither of them made any move to leave or speak to one another. Itachi leaned back in the cement bench he was sitting on and stared up at the beautiful sky above him. Deidara sat slumped forward on the bench and watched the busy ants hurrying back to their nests after a long day's work.

They sat in silence until long after the sun set and the black blanket of the night covered the village.


	14. Chapter 14

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 14

_Bang!_ The first bang echoed throughout the village, sending civilians into a moment of silence and shock. Everyone paused what they were doing and looked around to hear where the loud bang had come from.  
>When the second bang followed the first a minute after, everyone knew something was wrong. So as the civilians left their shops and homes, off and on duty shinobi began heading to the noise. Everyone seemed fairly calm but curious, until the next explosion.<p>

Three more explosions echoed louder and louder and quicker and quicker throughout the village, civilians began to run to safety, completely abandoning whatever they were occupied with and running to the Hokage monument for safety. The shinobi picked up their paces and sprinted to the sound of the explosions. Everyone was sent into a state of panic at the bright blue explosions around the village.

Shocks from the explosions sent tremors through the ground around the village making it harder for the people to escape. Deidara had just finished arranging another pot of flowers when he felt the ground shake; the shocks from the explosions rolling all the way to the Yamanaka shop. With a loud crash, several vases fell to the hard floor and shattered to pieces. Deidara's eyes widened and he stood in a moment of shock. Mrs Yamanaka, who had been in the back of the shop resting, stumbled to the front of the shop to find Deidara standing stunned in the middle of the store watching vases fall to the ground and shatter. The weak woman frowned when she found the boy not moving to escape and she stalked over to him and grabbed his wrist demanding his attention. Immediately Deidara snapped out of his daze.

'Haven't you heard an explosion before!' She barked at the boy ironically. He stared dumbly at the woman before smirking.

'It's just…' _It's been so long_, 'I was a bit shocked,' _I've missed that sound so much, I couldn't help but listen to it._ Deidara pulled his dirty, white apron over his head and threw it to the ground as he swung Mrs Yamanaka's arm around his shoulder, wrapped a strong arm around her waist and helped her out of the shop to safety. As they stepped out of the store they stood, watching the mass of panicked civilians running frantically to safety; many of them tripping over one another.

Securing Mrs Yamanaka's arm around his shoulders and gripping it tightly with his left hand and using his arm to hold her close to him, Deidara frowned and wound his way through the crowd to get the woman to safety. _Every_ fibre in his body was begging him to go in the other direction to find the source of the explosions, but he knew better.  
>The crazed civilians pushed past the slow Deidara and Mrs Yamanaka desperate to get to safety. Deidara was quickly losing his temper. As one man pushed past everyone, several people were knocked over but he continued running. The man ran straight in the direction of Deidara and Mrs Yamanaka from behind and tried to barrel them over to get past them. 'Oof,' Deidara lost his grip around Mrs Yamanaka and both of them were sent falling to the ground along with the man who had just pushed them. The elder woman groaned from the pain and Deidara could hear the man near them as he whimpered at his sudden lack of movement. Deidara sprung to his feet and as civilians kept running past him and the other two individuals; he walked over to the man who was crawling to his feet and grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt. His face was contorted into a menacing glare and the man cowered when he looked into Deidara's fierce blue eyes. Deidara's eyes studied the fear on the man's face intensely before throwing him to the ground away from him in disgust. He then walked over to Mrs Yamanaka and helped her to her feet and continued on their way to safety.<p>

As they were walking, a thought hit Deidara. Where _was_ safety? He had only been in this village for less than a year and he had no idea where safety was. Worriedly, Deidara snapped his head in all directions to see where the civilians were running to; a bead of sweat rolled down Deidara's temple and he bit his bottom lip. Hard.

Mrs Yamanaka looked up at Deidara when the blonde stopped and looked around. All the civilians were running in all directions trying to get away from the explosions and to safety. But no one seemed to be running to safety. They were just running. Mrs Yamanaka took control and began to point directions to Deidara where to go. Just as they were gaining momentum and they were rounding a corner of a large building, everyone stopped. The ground began to convulse wildly, knocking everyone from their feet and a bright blinding blue light swept over the village. Like a tsunami wave, a great wall of chakra crashed down on the buildings and people. Strong, sturdy buildings were pulled down to their foundations and boulder sized blocks of rubble rocketed in all directions. A thick fog of dust from the fallen buildings filled the surrounding area suffocating any survivors from the wave. Deidara hunched over and coughed loudly as he took a large intake of the smoke and dust. If he could see through the fog then he would be able to see the faces of the other people who were coughing in the distance. The small pocket of Konoha was completely quiet, the only sounds loud enough to be heard by the survivors was the crackling of the buildings as they continued to fall.

'A-Are you alright Mrs Yamanaka hn?' Deidara wheezed and coughed grabbing around to find the woman who he had lost in the quake. As the fog began to clear Deidara was able to see the extent of the damage to the small area. Bodies were strewn across the now fairly flat street, some bloodied and dead, others bloodied and injured; Deidara didn't have time to look for survivors.  
>As people began to crawl to their feet and continue to safety, Deidara frantically searched for Mrs Yamanaka. <em>Where the hell is she yeah?<em>

The first bang echoed through the village and Itachi immediately froze. He had been pouring a customer's Tsukemen when he heard it. Teuchi noticed the boy's sudden tense demeanour and turned to him, placing a worried hand on Itachi's shoulder he whispered, 'It's probably nothing.'

But Itachi knew better. Slowly he continued to pour the bowl of food and handed it to the customer. The man accepted it gratefully, but Itachi remained tense as he walked back to the pot. Ayame just walked into the store and glanced at Itachi worriedly. Suddenly there was a scream from outside and Itachi dropped everything. He ripped his apron from his body and darted outside, his shinobi instincts were still there and he knew something was wrong.

When he reached outside, he frowned at the sight of the masses of civilians running for their lives to safety. He looked around for the enemy, remaining outside the shop and gasped when he noticed a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. Ayame, Teuchi and the customer ran outside, following Itachi and stared in horror as another explosion echoed through the village. A slight ripple went through the earth, but Itachi held his ground. Two more explosions, quicker and stronger sent questioning civilians into panic. Everyone was now running to safety.

_Click._ Itachi turned his gaze to the customer behind him as the man fastened his headband to his head. 'You three head to safety, I'll deal with the enemy.' And with a desperate growl, he bounded off towards the explosions. Itachi followed the man with his eyes as he ran off and Itachi closed his eyes respectively, whispering a silent and desperate prayer to whoever would listen.

Ayame stepped forward and placed a hand on Itachi's shirt. As another ripple went through the earth Ayame's grip tightened on Itachi's shirt and Itachi turned to see her face. The girl was so scared and looked up at Itachi with a glint of scared reassurance in her eyes. 'It'll be alright Itachi. W-We should head for safety now.' Teuchi was behind her, waiting patiently for his daughter.

Itachi swallowed hard and grabbed Ayame's hand from his shirt, holding it securely in his hands as he nodded to Teuchi and started leading them to the Hokage Monument. Before they even rounded the corner another, much more powerful explosion crashed through the village. A bright blue light flashed as a huge wave pulled everything to the ground that it touched. Itachi pulled Ayame to the ground in a tight, protective hug to shield her from falling debris, using his body as a roof over her to prevent her from getting hurt. As rubble was crashing to the ground around him, Itachi's eyes widened when felt Teuchi's supported weight on top of him to shield him like he was shielding Ayame. As the dust cloud washed over the trio and everything in its path, everything went quiet. Itachi was the first to move. Lightly he pushed at Teuchi so the man would get off him, and slowly he and Teuchi pulled Ayame by her arms, to her feet, the whole time Itachi inspected the damage to the surrounding area in one long glance. Behind him Itachi heard Ayame gasp at the sight of all the fallen buildings and bodies around them, so he turned and herded the two towards the Hokage monument and safety.

Deidara continued to search around the rubble for Mrs Yamanaka; all the survivors who could move were already evacuated to safety. As Deidara glanced to his right he noticed long blonde hair sticking out from under a piece of rubble. Panic swept over Deidara and he launched himself from the ground using his hands and feet. He stumbled forward and landed in a heap on the ground when a stabbing pain ripped through his leg and body, and a searing burn ran through his muscles and blood. Groping at his leg, Deidara swung his head around while he lay on his abdomen on the ground, to see his leg bent back in the wrong direction, contorted painfully. Deidara swung his head back around in defeat and slammed his fist in the ground angrily as he roared in frustration and pain.

'Deidara?' Mrs Yamanaka's questioning voice silenced Deidara and he began dragging himself to the woman under the rubble.

He staggered over the rocks and placed his hands, unsure, on the piece of rubble on top of Mrs Yamanaka; his eyes widened with shock and he fought to supress the urge to vomit. The back of her head was completely lost under the large slab of building and a pool of blood was rapidly forming from the large, open wound to her head. Her brain was slightly exposed to Deidara and he cringed at the sight of it throbbing. Her back was facing Deidara and her arms were pinned to her sides as another block of rubble, a larger piece and several smaller ones, were on her body as she lay on her side. Her face, some of her hair and some of her back and chest area were the only parts of her body not crushed by debris. Deidara touched the rock on Mrs Yamanaka's head gently and he let his head hang down hopelessly.

'Deidara,' Mrs Yamanaka breathed from under the rubble. Her blonde hair was covering her face and Deidara gently brushed it aside so she could talk. 'Listen to me.' She paused and Deidara made a noise in answer to her, 'You must get to safety. Leave me here.'

Deidara gulped and a strange and rare feeling prickled at Deidara's eyes as he blinked, soon he was blinking back tears. 'I-I can't do that, yeah…Now this is probably going to hurt, but I have to move this rock from your head, yeah, so I can get you to the hospital.' Deidara wiped at his dirty face quickly with his shoulder's sleeve as a tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek.

Mrs Yamanaka smirked sadly under her hair, 'I'm just a hindrance to you. You must get to safety.' Deidara frowned and wiped away a few more tears roughly.

'No, I can't leave you here yeah. I will never hear the end of it from Ino!' Deidara croaked, his voice cracking, then with a cough, Mrs Yamanaka stopped breathing and Deidara slammed his fist on the ground.

With his back hunched over, Deidara worked hard to steady his breathing as tears rolled down his cheeks. His sobs prevented him from hearing the footsteps behind him.

'Deidara.' The menacing and monotone voice made Deidara'a eyes snap open and the young blonde swung around on the spot to see a tall orange haired man with several piercings and the Akatsuki cloak. The man's purple bloodline limit eyes glared down at the young blonde who he hadn't seen in almost a year, angrily.

'L-Leader-Sama.' Deidara gulped and he stopped crying immediately as he stared up at the man. Deidara's eyes briefly flashed down at the bloodied rod in his former leader's hand and his gaze snapped back up to the man again fearfully.

'Deidara I want an explanation. Why have you betrayed us?' The man stalked over to Deidara and grabbed him harshly by the throat, hoisted him to his feet and pinned him to one of the still standing wall behind him. Deidara coughed up a small amount of spit as the man slammed him into the wall and he stared nervously at the orange haired man.

'Leader-sama, Itachi and I never meant to betray you. We were captured yeah, and,' Deidara glanced down quickly and using his hand he pulled his blue shirt up to reveal to the man the seal that was placed on his abdomen, 'they put a seal on both of us yeah, so we can't use any chakra.'

The man's eyes narrowed when he saw nothing on Deidara's abdomen, panicking at realising you need someone's chakra to make the seal visible, Deidara continued trying to convince the Akatsuki of his innocence by holding up his hand, palm-side facing the man, 'They extracted our jutsu's. Itachi can't even use his sharingan. We've been prisoners here yeah.'

The man narrowed his eyes further and his grip tightened on Deidara's throat. 'You are forgiven, however,' He leaned closer to Deidara so his lips were whispering in the boy's ear. 'You are of no further use to Akatsuki.'

Deidara's eyes opened as he realised. The last thing he saw was the fallen buildings in front of him as the man snapped Deidara's neck, killing him, and throwing him to the floor beside the crushed woman.

Itachi moved Ayame and Teuchi quickly through the rubble ridden streets of Konoha. They were getting close to the escape; he knew it. As they were running, something caught Itachi's attention and with a sharp glance and sudden stop, Itachi saw Kakashi pinned to the ground by rubble and Pein standing tall and glaring down at him. Itachi immediately dropped Ayame's hand and turned to her. 'You both need to keep running. Take the underground escape, its faster and safer.' Itachi looked at them both before he bolted off to help Kakashi. Before Ayame could call out to him, Teuchi had her hand in his and was pulling her to the underground escape route.

Itachi's feet pounded on the ground thunderously as he raced to help Kakashi. Nearing them, he stopped and looked around to find some kind of weapon to use. Seeing a kunai lying abandoned in the dirt a meter away from him, Itachi leapt to it and held it firmly in his hand as he continued running to Kakashi and Pein. Strategies running through his head, Itachi decided to take Pein from the side and moved behind a large piece of rubble and angled the kunai at the orange haired man.

With a sharp swing of his arm, Itachi sent the kunai flying straight for Pein.

He should have seen it coming. Itachi growled angrily when Pein turned his head nonchalantly in the direction of the kunai and with an effortless flick of his hand, sent Itachi and the kunai flying towards the rubble. Pein crashed Itachi into a large concrete wall and watched as the young raven haired man slumped to the floor. Kakashi's sharingan eye widened when the Uchiha slowly rolled his head and crawled to his feet.

'Itachi,' Kakashi barked. 'Get out of here. You're a civilian, you can't kill this guy!'

Itachi stayed kneeling on the ground on his hands and knees with his head hung angrily towards the ground. He didn't need Kakashi reminding him. Snapping his head up angrily, Itachi glared up at Pein with crimson and murderous eyes. When he snapped his head up to glare fiercely at Pain, he heard Kakashi gasp quietly and he could see Kakashi's body tense from the corner of his now crimson eyes.

Pein's attention was focused on Itachi as he turned his body to face the kneeling Uchiha. 'Hmph,' He raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha. 'I heard from Deidara that you couldn't use your Sharingan.'

Itachi's eyes narrowed, 'I couldn't. Now where is Deidara?'

Pein's face remained cold and he spoke emotionlessly, 'I killed him; snapped his neck while he was weeping over some dead woman.'

Itachi's frown deepened until his face was completely contorted with rage. He flung himself at Pein, unthinking of the consequences, with his fist raised in anticipation of punching Pein's face.

Not surprisingly, Itachi felt his body lift off the ground and, like a magnet being drawn to something; he was forced back to the wall he had just left. Itachi slumped back down against the wall with his head hung low in defeat. His arms lay uselessly open at his sides and his wrist was bent in an unnatural and uncomfortable way; a blue bruise was already forming on it. Pein moved closer from the rock he was standing on, to the injured Uchiha to land him the finishing blow when another kunai was flung at his head from the side. Narrowly missing it, Pein pulled his head sharply backwards, just in time to avoid the second kunai thrown at his head. Turning his head to the direction the kunai came from, his eyes narrowed as a tall, dark haired teenager stood tall on a nearby rock; his face unnaturally calm and cold and his dark onyx eyes glaring at the orange haired Akatsuki.

The boy held another kunai in the air directed at Pein threateningly, 'I'll be the one to kill Itachi.'

Pein's eyes narrowed in a frown, but nodded, Pein sent a small nail flying at Kakashi's head in a deadly blow and retreated from the young Uchiha. He didn't care who killed the older Uchiha, as long as he was dead; besides, Pein still had the jinchuuriki to find.

Hearing that familiar voice, Itachi forced his head up and struggled out, 'S-Sasuke…'

Sasuke jumped down from the rock he was on and walked over to Itachi who was trying to force himself to his feet. With a shaky hand, Itachi supported himself against the wall behind him while his other hand was hung uselessly at his side. Itachi watched Sasuke with red eyes and bead of sweat rolled down his temple and down his cheek. Sasuke smirked at Itachi when he noticed how pathetic his older brother looked. Itachi was slumped over exhaustedly; his white cooking clothes were completely ruined by blood, dirt and sweat and a stain of blood was at the corners of Itachi's mouth from where he coughed it up and wiped it away. 'I heard you were taken to Konoha and made a civilian, but I didn't think you would become a, _cook_.' Sasuke's smirk grew larger as he spat the word out at his brother. Looking closely, Sasuke could see his brother's eyebrows twitch and his legs beginning to tremble; a fine layer of sweat was forming all over Itachi, and Sasuke decided to hurry things along.

'Don't die on me yet _brother_.' Sasuke frowned at the last word as he said it disgustedly and stalked over to Itachi. Grabbing his brother's hair at the base of his head, just as he fell to his knees, Sasuke pulled Itachi's head upwards so he was looking up at him. Swallowing hard when he looked up at Sasuke another bead of sweat rolled down Itachi's face, his sharingan dissipated, revealing his black onyx eyes once again.

'Tsk.' Sasuke growled when he notice how exhausted Itachi was. 'Damn Pein.'

Harshly, Sasuke pulled Itachi by his hair up from his kneeling position and held him so their eyes were level. 'It's a shame that you "aren't worth killing" at the moment, but I am not going to waste this opportunity to avenge our clan.' Itachi closed his eyes as he heard Sasuke use Itachi's words back at him. It didn't feel good hearing Sasuke use the same hurtful words as Itachi had used on his younger brother so many years ago, but this was exactly what Itachi wanted; to die by his brother's hands, so he swallowed hard and took it.

'Now, die!' Sasuke roared angrily as he plunged his kunai into Itachi's chest. Itachi's eyes flashed open and his eyes widened from the pain. With a shaky glance up to his brother, Itachi watched the anger flee from Sasuke into a sick satisfaction, before he was dropped to the ground in a heap; the kunai still embedded in his chest. With haze filled eyes, Itachi watched with his cheek pressed against the cold dirt ground, as Sasuke walked away; a new sense of pride in the way the young teenager walked. Itachi's eyelids grew heavy and they slowly closed shut.


	15. Chapter 15

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 15

A voice.

Itachi squeezed his eyes hard before he tried to open them, _am I dead? _

A young kunoichi hovered over his face, tears in her hazel eyes as she spoke to someone. Swallowing, Itachi tried to open his mouth to say something but his mouth and throat were so dry a strained noise came out instead. Turning his head to his right, he saw who the woman was talking to; another ninja, a man with short seaweed coloured hair and a small distinguishable star shaped scar on his jaw. Both looked concerned, but incredibly relieved when Itachi opened his eyes and began shifting to a sitting position.

'Itachi,' the woman sighed. 'I don't know what happened, but I am so glad you're alive.' Itachi blinked and with his dark onyx eyes, he scanned the surrounding area. He saw Kakashi also rising to a sitting position a few meters away from him, the young Akimichi was crying over him with relief. The more Itachi moved the more energy he seemed to be gaining, so with a tired heave, Itachi pulled himself to his feet and looked back to the man and woman he had just seen. The woman was still kneeling on the ground beside where Itachi just lay and was watching him like a worried mother. The man was now standing and walked over to Itachi with a smirk.

'It's been a while,' the man placed a strong hand on Itachi's shoulder and his smirk grew into a smile, Itachi started to smile too when he realised who it was. He looked very different from when they were children, but he was definitely Hojo Yamada; Itachi's knucklehead teammate from when they were younger. 'You were dead man, I don't know what happened, but a glowing green light went into everyone's bodies who had died and now everyone's back.' Hojo was throwing his arms around while explaining the events to Itachi. Itachi pretended to listen, but he turned around to look at the woman who was now standing and brushing dirt from her red-plum coloured skirt and Konoha flak jacket and straightening her headband around her forehead. As she finished grooming herself she flicked her long dark blue hair behind her shoulder so it fell along her back; she looked over to Itachi with a smile.

'You don't remember me do you?' She held her hands in front of her understandingly, Itachi shook his head. Suddenly Hojo slammed his hand on Itachi's back with a laugh.

'I don't blame you for not remembering her, she's not the flat chested little-' Hojo was cut off with a punch in the face that sent him flying in the other direction from the woman and the stunned Itachi.

The woman raised her fist angrily at the annoying man she just punched and looked to Itachi with a smile, 'My name's Yumiko, we used to be teammates remember?'

Itachi's eyes widened from shock; he suddenly felt like he was the one who got punched in the face. Yumiko was definitely different from when they were genin: her hair was longer (as it now reached past her hips as opposed to when she was a genin and it was in a short bob), her face more feminine and matured, but the most significant change and Itachi couldn't deny that he noticed, was Yumiko's sizeable breasts. Yumiko blushed when she noticed Itach's gaze and she crossed her arms across her chest. Hojo suddenly appeared next to Itachi and wrapped an arm around his shoulders in a brotherly embrace. 'Forget it Itachi' he laughed. 'I married Yumiko nearly two years ago now; she's my wife.' Hojo beamed and Yumiko smiled sweetly at her husband with a nod.

Itachi's eyes widened. He completely forgot that these two were five years older than him. He graduated the academy at seven after skipping several grades; he jumped straight into Hojo and Yumiko's team as they graduated at age twelve. 'That's great.' Itachi smiled at his old friends. The thought of those two together was so strange to Itachi that he was almost sent reeling. From their time together as genin, Itachi remembered that Yumiko never paid attention to Hojo's advances and schemes to get her to notice him; she always gave him the cold shoulder. _So much has changed since I left._ Itachi smiled to himself as he watched his old friends laugh together.

Yumiko moved closer to them and relaxed her arms slightly, 'Yes, we even have a son now, Takahiro.' Itachi just nodded with a smile at his old teammates.

There wasn't enough time for Itachi to respond because there was suddenly loud roars of excitement coming from a large crowd of people. Hojo, Yumiko and Itachi turned their heads in the direction of the roars as the villagers and shinobi were gathered together and cheering as someone was arriving. Itachi looked confused but as Hojo and Yumiko pulled him closer to the commotion Hojo filled him in on what happened while Itachi was dead. 'Come on, that knucklehead Naruto has probably come back from fighting the Akatsuki by now.'

Yumiko smiled and moved to hold Hojo's hand lovingly as the three of them continued to run, 'Yes, Lady Hokage's summons, Katsuyu, filled everyone in on Naruto's battle with the Akatsuki. He's amazing.'

Itachi smiled and the three of them reached the excited crowd and started clapping when the knucklehead blonde bewilderedly stumbled into the village with a now walking Kakashi.

'Deidara,' Deidara's eyes blinked, attempting to clear the haze covering his vision. Deidara's blue eyes focused and he gazed around for the source of what woke him. Dragging himself to a sitting position, Deidara sat, using his hands and arms to lean against the ground for support. 'Deidara.' The voice called again.

Deidara whipped his head around and saw Mrs Yamanaka looking at him with a smile. 'M-' Deidara's voice croaked dryly. 'Mrs Yamanaka, what happened?'

Suddenly a slug slithered over Mrs Yamanaka's shoulder to look at Deidara. Deidara eyed it in shock-curiosity and jumped back when he felt another slug slither over his hand. 'Please Deidara-san, calm down. You were dead for almost half an hour until the Akatsuki's jutsu brought everyone back to life. I'm not sure you should make any sudden movements until we fully understand the situation.'

Deidara nodded wide eyed at the slug but got to his feet with a sigh anyway. Looking around, Deidara's eyes grew sad as he watched survivors walking hopelessly around at their devastated home. There wasn't a building standing in the entire village but surprisingly a swarm of villagers had survived the attack. As they came down from the still standing Hokage Monument, Deidara watched their sad faces and attempts to help the shinobi trapped under rubble. Everyone was banding together to help the fallen, who were slowly coming back into existence.

Deidara turned to Mrs Yamanaka, 'Deidara,' She pulled herself to her feet and placed her hand on Deidara's cheek. 'I'm going to go find my husband and daughter.'

Deidara nodded and pulled Mrs Yamanaka's hand from his cheek, 'I'll come too, besides; I want to see where that lot is headed yeah.' Deidara turned his head slightly and pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the mob of villagers as they walked briskly towards one corner of the demolished village. Mrs Yamanaka nodded and the two of them joined the crowd of villagers.

xxxxx

'Deidara!' Deidara turned excitedly in the direction of the person calling his name. With a wide smile he turned just in time for Ino to crash into his open arms in a tight hug. Ino looked up at Deidara's dirty face with tears in her eyes, but when his smile grew, she closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest as she cried. He held her close to him and rested one of his hands on her head comfortingly. Deidara noticed out of the corner of his eye, Mrs Yamanaka and Inoichi embrace, then turn to watch their weeping daughter with a smile. Ino buried her face further into Deidara's warm shirt and with her arms wrapped around his body; she squeezed the soft material covering his back. Each time Ino took a quick breath in, trying to steady her breathing as she cried, her nostrils were filled with the familiar scent of the young man she had spent the whole day worrying about. During the invasion and assault of the village Ino had worried that Deidara was dead or dying, she almost let her worry take over and go find him but she knew she had to focus on defending the village.

'Um,' Deidara said awkwardly after several minutes and Ino snapped her head up and pushed herself off Deidara embarrassed. He smiled at her and placed his hand behind his head in a laugh, 'I'm glad you're ok Ino.'

Ino, who had taken a few steps back from Deidara and had her head hung down to cover her heating face, snapped her attention back up to Deidara and using her wrists she dried her eyes and wiped her tears. 'I'm glad you're ok too Deidara.'

The two of them stood awkwardly watching each other when a strong hand slapped the back of Deidara's head lightly sending the blonde stumbling forward. Deidara snapped up to see the person who pushed him and saw Itachi smiling down at him with a young brown haired girl and a much older man standing on either side of him with a smile on their faces as well. 'I should probably say I'm glad to see you're still alive yeah.' Deidara said mockingly as he stood up and moved next to Ino and the Yamanaka's.

'Likewise.' Itachi smirked at the blonde, but his gaze fell to the ground and a dark shadow fell over his face. Deidara's eyebrow cocked upwards and he stepped forward so he was close enough to whisper to Itachi.

'What happened yeah?' Deidara asked. Itachi motioned for the two of them to walk slightly away from their groups as the two young women fussed with each other over the events of the day. After walking a few meters away, Itachi replied.

'Sasuke showed up.' He said sadly. Deidara frowned slightly, he didn't care _at all_ about the Uchiha's, but Sasuke was insane and the thought of the teenager showing up in Konoha during an invasion unsettled Deidara.

'That guy's going to get himself killed if he is involved in Akatsuki now, yeah. They just destroyed a ninja village, who knows what else they're gonna do…Apart from the whole junchuuriki thing yeah.' Deidara folded his arms across his chest as he thought.

Itachi sighed and looked back at Deidara skeptically, 'And something else, while I faced Pain…' Itachi started to shake his head and his eyebrows furrowed deeper from disbelief, '…I was able to activate my sharingan.'

Deidara's eyes widened at the news. Unfolding his arms and letting them fall to his side, Deidara's full attention was to Itachi. 'What? Do you think that the seal is weakening or something yeah?'

Itachi shrugged and looked away, 'I don't know. I just thought you should know that it's a possibility.' Itachi paused then turned sharply to Deidara, 'But it wouldn't be wise to brag about it if the seal does slacken, the village might have us tried and executed as ninja criminals if we ever get our jutsus back. We will be seen as a threat.'

Deidara gulped nervously and shook his head, 'Not a word yeah.'

Both young men nodded to each other slowly and turned their gazes to the crowd of villagers as they started cheering again at Konoha's new Hero. Deidara and Itachi separated and re-joined with their groups, watching as rejoicing villagers started throwing Naruto into the air proudly. They started clapping.

xxxxx

The rejoicing continued for another few hours before the situation fully settled into people's minds again. Naruto had gone back with his friends to talk and relax from his fight with Pain, while other shinobi and civilians scattered to gather whatever was salvageable and give it to Shikamaru and Shiho of the Konoha Cryptanalysis Squad for sorting.  
>Mr and Mrs Yamanaka had decided to walk, leaving Ino and Deidara to talk. The two were in an awkward silence and Ino stood uncomfortably with her left arm hanging lazily to her side while her other hand clutched her elbow nervously. Her gaze was on Deidara as he was crouched on the dirty ground sifting through some debris as part of the clean up like everyone else. Finally noticing the young kunoichi's silence after several minutes, Deidara turned from his crouched position on the ground to look up at Ino. 'Something wrong, yeah?' He asked nonchalantly.<p>

Tears were prickling at Ino's eyes and she shot her gaze to Deidara and with a sniff, she scrunched her face and squeezed her hands into tight balls. Deidara raised an eyebrow nervously and a solitary bead of sweat rolled down his temple. _Thump._ Suddenly Ino threw herself to the ground in front of Deidara, sitting on her feet and her tight fists pressed firmly on her legs. Her gaze was to the floor and her bangs hung over her face; but as Deidara leaned closer and squinted, he could notice the girl's reddening cheeks and stream of tears. 'H-how…' Ino tried to speak through sniffs and uneven breaths as she worked herself up. 'How can y-you be so…calm after what happened? Everything w-was destroyed…' Ino ripped one of her fists from her leg and rubbed her eye until it was redder than normal. Deidara sighed and shuffled closer so he was sitting next to the crying girl; his ankles crossed and his knees pulled up half-way to his chest. Throwing one arm on one of his knees, Deidara used his other arm to comfort Ino as he slung it around the girl's shaking shoulders firmly; Deidara's gaze was ahead of him as he watched two birds flying happily in the blue sky, oblivious to the troubles below.

'Not everything was destroyed yeah.' Deidara went quiet, waiting for his words to sink into the young girl beside him. Immediately Ino's sobbing stopped and her breathing hitched. Pulling her fists from her eyes, Ino opened her raw wide eyes and turned to Deidara. Before he could react, Deidara was forced to the ground by Ino's weight as the girl had him pinned to his side as she hugged him tightly around his neck. Struggling from beneath her, Deidara pulled his trapped hand out from between their bodies and gripped her upper arm as it was suffocating him. 'I-Ino, y-you're killing me yeah!' Deidara gasped and Ino continued to sob into him; his body relaxed and he placed a hand on the girl's back waiting for her to calm down.

Meanwhile, Itachi and Ayame had separated from Teuchi as he initiated a conversation with one of his long-time customers near his flattened shop. The two young adults decided to walk together and talk to get their minds off the invasion. They walked for several minutes before they stopped at a secluded sight. They had no destination in mind when they set off, but somehow they had arrived at the most abandoned area of the village; the Uchiha estate.

Ayame, who had been gushing to Itachi about knew plans for the shop, stopped when she noticed Itachi still and his body stiffen. She glanced at her friend and noticed his wide onyx eyes as they stared dead ahead of them. 'W-Wha-?' Ayame mumbled as she followed Itachi's gaze to a small river that was almost completely covered in fallen rocks and debris. Small trickles of water were escaping between gaps in the rocks and forming small puddles on the dirt ground around them. A large tree which would have been noble and tall when it stood was toppled over on its side; its thick roots completely ripped from the ground and large slabs of concrete from the surrounding housing complexes were crushing the remaining life in the tree to death. For a moment Ayame thought she saw Itachi tremble out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to face him she noticed his gaze dark and fixed to the dirt ground below. The corners of Ayame's brows tilted in a confused and worried frown as she placed a gentle hand on Itachi's shoulder. 'Itachi?' She asked.

Itachi's head slowly lifted and his dark eyes looked sad and regretful. Not saying a word or sparing a glance to the concerned woman beside him, Itachi took a struggling step forward in the direction of the broken river and knelt down beside it; picking up a small pebble in his hands and using his fingers to toss it around absentmindedly.

'This used to be a part of Naka River.' He paused as he watched a trail of water escape the rocks and track down the walkway. 'A close friend of mine died here.'

Ayame's gaze saddened and she moved closer to Itachi; crouching down beside him, Ayame slung her thin arms across his shoulders and neck in a hug and rested her head lightly on his shoulder, her forehead leaning closely in the curve of Itachi's neck. Itachi immediately shifted to the sudden close contact and wrapped his strong arm around Ayame's waist, holding her firmly beside him as they sat there together in silence.


	16. Chapter 16

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 16

Two days had passed since the attack on the village and everyone was busy. Shortly after Naruto returned from defeating Pain it was revealed to the villagers that Tsunade was in coma and Danzo was elected as temporary Hokage while Tsunade was unfit for the job.

Itachi didn't trust the man _at all_. Something he stressed to Ayame and Teuchi whenever the topic of Hokage was brought up. His suspicions were for good reason too, as two days after Danzo's election, Deidara was taken by anbu for interrogation under Danzo and the elder's orders. Itachi was completely powerless to do anything and all he could do was wait until Deidara was released…_If_ he was released.

Deidara hung weakly in his cell, his arms wrapped around a thick metal pole that was draped across his shoulders and fastened to his wrist shackles. A thick chain was attached to the middle of the pole and was attached to the roof of the cell. The boy hung weakly from the shackles; his knees slightly bent and his toes and feet scraping against the dirty cell floor whenever his body moved. Hours before the torture started, Deidara had been able to stand on his own and had a certain level of movement, which left him wondering what the point of the flexible restraints was. However, several hours into the torture Deidara grew too weak to stand and tripped; the loose shackles and chains which had allowed him movement before, were suddenly causing so much pain as he felt his body weight when he hung from the chains and he dislocated his shoulder as he fell…Which was quickly relocated and he was strung back up in the chains again.

Another shot of pain seared through Deidara's side as his interrogator penetrated his soft abdomen's skin with a kunai again. 'Urh.' Deidara winced and struggled against his restraints. Several cuts and bruises were littered over his exposed arms and chest, his bare legs and feet were relatively untouched apart from the burn he had blistering on the bottom of his left foot; his only clothing, his black shorts, were stained from where the blood from his open wounds would run down his chest and abdomen and soaked patches in his pants.

Panting, Deidara rested his head exhaustedly on one of his raised arms and gripped the chains holding his wrist shackles tighter, when the bastard started speaking again.

'Now, we have been at this for a day, do you really think you can stay quiet forever?' Danzo's uncaring voice laughed as he stepped out from the shadows and into the dim light of the dirt cell. Ibiki Morino, Deidara's interrogator, stepped back so Danzo could walk up to Deidara, and roughly, the old man grabbed Deidara by the chin and held his face to stare him in the eyes. His body swung on the chains at the sudden movement and he groaned from the pain in his shoulder. Deidara swallowed hard and as Danzo squeezed his jaw, his dry, cracked lips parted slightly. Deidara frowned and glared his blue eyes at the smirking Danzo.  
>The two of them shared that glare for several minutes before Danzo's gaze wandered down Deidara's wounded chest to his exposed abdomen, and with a rough hand he started to touch the skin on Deidara's stomach where his seal should be with curiosity. Deidara's eyebrows shot up at the old man's sudden touch. Images of a man touching him like that once before sent Deidara jerking away from him in shock.<p>

'Don't touch me yeah!' Deidara spat venomously to the old man. Danzo laughed, tossing Deidara's head aside harshly and stepping aside for Ibiki to take his place in standing in front of Deidara.

Faintly Deidara could hear the conversation between the two men but his head was growing cloudy as he tried not to remember those images.

_Deidara jerked away suddenly at the contact. Yutaka smirked to himself and looked down at the young blonde who was restrained in a kneeling position on the large bed Yutaka had designed especially for his fun. The boy was only clad in worn shorts and his wrists were shackled to the bottom of the bedhead, pulling his arms and upper body down to touch the dirty sheets while his ankles were restrained making his legs bend at the knees so his buttox was pointed up at the grinning Yutaka. The boy's breathing was heavy and Yutaka smiled at how scared the boy was._

'_And you're supposed to be a shinobi?' Yutaka leaned over Deidara, his excited member pressing at Deidara's shaking body, and he moved his fat face and lips beside the blonde's hot, red ear. 'Now, steady that breathing. I don't want you passing out and missing all the fun.'  
>The boy grimaced and took a sharp intake of breath when Yutaka placed a fat hand greedily on the underside of his body. Yutaka snaked his fingers and hand over the boys' sweaty and extremely toned chest and chuckled when the boy's breath hitched involuntarily and his heartbeat quickened. Moving his head closer to the boy's back, Yutaka began placing hungry kisses and nibbles at the blonde's back and body, smirking when he noticed the boy's hands clench into tight fists and when he noticed the raw flesh around the boy's wrists from the boys' repeated attempts to get away from his touch.<em>

_Yutaka chuckled to himself as he slipped his hand down the boy's abdomen and inside his pants, the boys' body tensing and he made one last attempt to pull away._

'Ibiki,' Danzo smirked and once returning to his wall, he turned to watch the scene in front of him. Deidara was snapped out of his nightmare as he heard Danzo's deep, cold voice echo through the cell.

Deidara opened his eyes and saw Ibiki stood in front of him with his weapon ready and eyes staring in futility down to Deidara, waiting for the order from Danzo. 'Continue. I want to see the seal.'

Ibiki nodded and focusing his chakra onto the blade of the kunai, he sliced into Deidara's abdomen again but only lightly. Everyone in the room watched as dark scribble formed on the boy's abdomen after Ibiki pulled the chakra blade away and the scribble quickly turned into the seal. Deidara heard Danzo talking to himself excitedly over the seal appearing and Ibiki looked down at the boy, his eyes dark, but filled with an emotion that Deidara guessed to be related to the fact that Ibiki didn't want to be there, especially when it involved torturing a civilian.  
>As the pain began to dull, Deidara's head hung weakly, his neck no longer strong enough to support his head any longer. His eyes began to drift shut again.<p>

_Bang._ Suddenly the heavy metal cell door of the underground interrogation corps in which Deidara was in, flew open to reveal three figures masked by the shadows. Even when the three figures stepped into the lit room, Deidara's vision was so blurred that he couldn't tell who it was that had entered; he had to rely on his hearing. He could hear Danzo's frustrated and surprised protests and the footsteps of the figures as they moved further into the cell. A set of warm hands were suddenly wrapping themselves around Deidara's wounded torso as another set of hands released the shackles holding Deidara's wrists. Deidara let out a pained moan as his body fell heavily into the arms of the person holding his torso and when they then slung his arm over their shoulder and their strong arm around his waist as they tried to support him.

'Inoichi,' Ibiki's deep voice spoke firmly and Deidara's ears twitched at the familiar name. 'It's about time you showed up. I wasn't sure how much longer this kid was going to last.'

Inoichi grunted but before he could comment back to his old friend, Danzo spoke. 'What do you think you are doing? You are going against your Hokage.'

Another familiar voice spoke up, 'Well, technically you are only a Hokage candidate.' Danzo was taken aback by that and he grumbled to himself.

'K-Ka-' Deidara swallowed hard trying to moisten his mouth and throat to finish saying the name of the man who was supporting him.

'Deidara, please don't speak.' Another familiar voice, Deidara smirked when he heard Ino's voice. 'Everything if going to be alright now, we'll get you out of here.'

'Fine, take the brat. He wasn't going to tell me anything anyway.' Danzo growled and left the cell; that was the last thing Deidara heard before slipping into unconsciousness with a smile.

xxxxx

Deidara's eyelids shot open and his blue eyes struggled to focus on the surrounding area. Slowly the images became clearer the more he blinked, and he turned his head around to see where he was. A large yellow tent loomed over him and he could hear the pained groans of many people also inside the tent. Deidara looked around and saw several rows of beds along the sides of the tent, some with wounded people, some empty.

'You're awake.' An unfamiliar voice entered Deidara's ears and he turned to his left to see a young male nurse filling out a piece of paper beside Deidara's bed. Deidara looked up at the man and nodded slowly before attempting to sit up in his bed. An action he immediately regretted as a sharp pain struck his body, emanating from his shoulder. _Oh, I forgot about that._ Deidara thought to himself as he placed his other hand over his shoulder instinctively. The nurse moved over to Deidara and placed a supportive hand on the blonde's back. 'Please Deidara-san, you shouldn't move too much until your body is fully recovered. We just took you off a drip, but you are still weak after your interrogation.' Deidara just frowned and glared at the white sheets on his bed. Weak?

'I don't think so, yeah.' Deidara mumbled as he continued to force himself up in his bed. The nurse continued to bark protests at the blonde's actions, but he was drowned out quickly as Deidara examined his health. He looked down to his abdomen where he was stabbed and found an almost-fully-healed place where his gushing wound had been. He nodded to himself, coming to the conclusion that he was in fairly good condition considering, and swung his legs over the side of the bed ready to leave.

'And where do you think you're going?' An angry voice bellowed at Deidara, making him flinch. Looking up, Deidara saw an angry Ino glowering down at Deidara. 'You should be resting.'

Deidara sighed with a smirk and looked up at the demanding woman with a defiant look, 'I'm fine yeah.'

'No you're not. You just came out of _interrogation_.' Ino emphasised the last word and placed her hands on her hips angrily like she was talking to a small child.

'Alright, that's enough Ino. I'm sure the boy is fine now; a walk might do him some good.' Inoichi appeared next to Ino with a smirk. Deidara smiled up at the two as he remembered who rescued him from interrogation; he felt much more relaxed when they were around.

Biting his lip determinedly, Deidara rested his sore arm across his lap and used his other arm to support him as he got to his feet. Quickly, Deidara grabbed onto the nearest thing-Inoichi- for support as dizziness threatened to force him back onto the bed. His grip tightened on the man's strong arm and he forced back the dizziness until he could stand by himself. Straightening, Deidara held his sore arm with his good hand to prevent much movement and looked past Inoichi and Ino, and around the crowded tent. 'How long was I out?' He asked distractedly as he scanned the tent.

'Three days.' Ino replied and handed Deidara a sling to put his arm in so he didn't have to carry it to his chest. Helping him put the sling on, Ino continued. 'Lord Danzo has left for a meeting with the other Kage's and Lady Tsunade still hasn't woken up yet.' Moving away from Deidara, Ino inspected her sling scrutinisingly then smiled at her good job.

'While you were gone people were designated to their own tents, but all the single tents are now taken so you're going to have to share a family tent with someone until a house is built.' Inoichi informed with his usual expressionless face. Deidara nodded and thanked the Yamanaka's before they left, leaving Deidara to do what he wanted.

Quickly growing bored of being in the tent, Deidara made his way outside of the tent to investigate. It was daylight and everyone was busy. Deidara moved around the side of the tent to sit on a log and watch as people moved around busily rebuilding the village. There were several new faces and Deidara guessed that they were visitors who came to help in the rebuilding.

'Hey,' Deidara looked up from the log he was sitting on to see a familiar face.

'What yeah?' Deidara asked with a bored expression and turned back to watch the people move around.

'Nothing.' Itachi sat down next to Deidara on the log and turned to Deidara with a smirk, 'Just thought you might want a shirt of something so you don't have to walk around half naked all day.' Itachi tossed Deidara a white t-shirt which the blonde quickly put on and over his sling, not bothering to put his sore arm through the hole. Deidara stood and inspected the shirt briefly; it was white with a large red Konoha symbol in the centre of the shirt, it was dirty, but it was something at least. 'I got it at lost and found; no one else was using it so now it's yours.'

'Thanks.' Deidara mumbled and sat back down next to Itachi in silence.

'I don't know where you'll stay though. The Hokage Monument is filled with the young, weak and old; there _were_ single tents but someone stole some of them, and the other ones are taken.'

'W-Where you staying, yeah.' Deidara mumbled.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and turned to Deidara with a smirk, 'With Ayame, but you're not invited.'

Deidara frowned and turned away, 'Wasn't gonna go there anyway yeah. I'll find somewhere to go.'

'Whatever,' Itachi laughed, 'just hurry up and get better so you can help out.'

'Hmm, I can see you're concerned yeah.' Deidara huffed and Itachi rose from the log. The two of them smirked and Itachi left to continue helping out.

Once Itachi was gone, Deidara rose from the log also and moved around the destroyed village. Men everywhere were carrying large slabs of wood while other men were creating frames for houses. A lot of work had been accomplished in a week considering how many people were unable to help; and there was a large supply of wood that kept flowing into the village from other villages. The women who weren't strong enough to do heavy work were busy cooking food for the masses of people while the children were running around helping with the odd jobs here and there. The elderly were mainly doing whatever they wanted, but some found useful jobs like collecting lost objects and returning them or replanting plants to make gardens.

Deidara continued through the crowds and walked past the busy cooking women as they prepared the next course for the busy villagers. A familiar figure caught Deidara's eye and he walked over to her curiously. 'Nasake.' He smiled and the woman turned around happily at Deidara's familiar voice and flung herself into his arms in a tight hug.

'How've you been? I was so worried.' Nasake gushed and stepped back to look at Deidara.

'Well, you know yeah.' Deidara shrugged with his good shoulder. 'Where's little D?'

'Oh he's over at the temporary day-care service. Everyone is so busy rebuilding that some of the elderly and injured offered to mind some of the kids for parents.' Nasake stopped for a moment when a thought struck her. 'Actually, I am about to have a break so do you want to come with me and see him?'

Deidara smiled and nodded. Nasake turned to the other women and told them she was going to go on her break and check on her child at the day-care, then she turned to Deidara and lead him away.

The two talked for several minutes as they walked to the day-care until Nasake stopped just a few meters away from the day-care. She looked fondly at the scene as lots of young children played together under the shade of a large tree that had been replanted after it was overturned. A couple of elderly women were cooing over some babies and a young teenager with a broken leg was rolling around with some of the toddlers.  
>Deidara stopped next to Nasake, wondering why she wasn't going further. 'Something wrong yeah?' He asked.<p>

Nasake turned to Deidara with a concerned look in her eyes. 'Deidara, I heard that you were interrogated by Ibiki Morino. He usually only interrogates the really bad criminals and shinobi; what did you do?'

Deidara frowned and turned away, 'Nothing.'

'You must have done something to be interrogated for two days.' Nasake's voice rose slightly, but she quickly checked it again so the people nearby didn't hear.

Deidara turned to Nasake with in intense gaze, 'That's the thing, I didn't do _anything_. They interrogated me for Iwa secrets under Danzo's orders yeah.'

'What?' Nasake gasped, 'Why would they do that?'

Deidara's expression relaxed as he explained, 'Well secrets and information are really valuable to a village's security and safety, especially if it's someone else's secrets yeah. I wouldn't tell them anything though. I may be in Konoha now, but I have no reason to give away Iwa secrets to their enemies.'

'Oh.' Nasake thought of something to say, 'Well that's good that you didn't give away the information. You're really brave.' Deidara smirked and turned away from her to scan the mass of kids to find Little D.

He spotted him. 'No, not really.' He replied to Nasake and Deidara walked over to the small boy. Nasake smiled as she watched Deidara swinging the small baby around in the air and she listened to her baby's excited squeals. Images of her time with her husband flashed through her mind and it brought tears to her eyes.

_Nasake's husband's strong, but gentle hands rubbed adoringly over her swelled abdomen from his kneeling position of their wooden floor. Nasake watched as her husband held his face close to her abdomen and smiled when he placed soft kissed to their unborn child. With beautiful, loving eyes, Nasake and her husband's eyes locked for a moment. 'Yuu, he can't hear you yet.'_

_Yuu cocked an amused eyebrow for a moment, and then got up to stand tall next to his wife. 'What if it's a girl?' He asked with a smile._

'_Then you'll have a daughter. But the baby can't hear you at the moment; you'll have to wait until it's born before it will know what you're saying.' Nasake rested a fragile hand on her husband's soft cheek. 'And besides, you are going to be late for your mission. We'll be here when you get back.'_

_He continued to stroke her abdomen but with a sad smile. He didn't want to leave his heavily pregnant wife while he went on another mission, 'I think it knows what I'm saying.'_

_Nasake smiled and watched as her husband knelt down again before placing another kiss on her abdomen and whispered, 'Daddy will be right back. I love you.'_

_Yuu stood up and adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and waved goodbye to his wife before he left for his mission._

Nasake's thoughts were interrupted when Deidara's smile shone down on her, little D sitting happily in Deidara's arms watching his mother. 'Hey Nasake?' Deidara asked shyly.

Nasake turned to him, 'Yes?'

'Um, I was wondering if I could stay with you and D until I get my own place yeah.' Deidara asked nervously.

Nasake smiled, 'Of course.'


	17. Chapter 17

**I have completely finished the fanfiction and i am uploading it for your enjoyment :)**  
><strong>Please review and tell me what you think :)<strong>

**WARNING! The following chapters may contain spoilers for those who havent read the manga or watched the anime!**

Chapter 17- Final Chapter

With a deep inhale, Deidara gathered his strength and picked up three large pieces of timber and moved to carry it to its destination. The heat from the sun bore down on every worker mercilessly and many of the working men ditched their shirts hours ago; Deidara was no exception. The men working with timber were supplied with gloves to prevent splinters and to ensure better grips and Deidara was given another pair of sandals. He pulled his bangs back from his face with a spare bandanna that was given to him by one of the workers and he had a small towel tucked into his shorts at his hip for drying his sweat and wiping paint whenever he needed it.

He had been working for nearly a week as a builder, and although he hadn't really built anything before, he quickly learnt how. There wasn't much time to socialise, so many of his friends, Deidara hadn't seen since he was recovering from interrogation and had lots of free time. He had been provided with his own tent shortly after moving in Nasake because the owner who it belonged to had married and moved in with their partner and didn't need it anymore.

Deidara hadn't heard from Itachi since he provided him with the shirt, which he wasn't too bothered by. Actually he didn't care about the Uchiha at all; never had.  
>'Thanks man.' One of the workers called to Deidara from the roof of a nearly finished building as Deidara placed the pile of wood on the ground for the workers to use.<br>Deidara looked up to the man and waved his acknowledgement before turning to have his break. He walked over to an area shaded by a large pile of wood and sat down to drink out of his water bottle. The cool refreshing liquid poured down his parched throat giving him some relief from the menacing heat. Putting the drink away, Deidara leant back against the wood, its coolness against his bare back. He watched proudly at the progress of the work done in the short weeks since the levelling of the village. Several small houses had been built in that short time and people were quickly moving out of their tents and into a house. Small business were being built to provide the women with a better and more secure place to store the food and an actual building was set up for parents to put their kids during the hot days. The village was slowly starting to look like a village again, but it was still going to take a long while before it looked as grand as it was before it was attacked.  
>So consumed in the scene before him, Deidara barely noticed a person sit beside him in the shade until they spoke.<p>

'So who's that woman you were talking to the other day?' A young woman asked Deidara shyly.

Deidara turned his head in the direction of the person beside him while still leaning his sweaty body against the cool wood. 'Oh, Ino.' He replied shocked to find the young kunoichi beside him.

'Yeah? Who'd you think it was?' She replied defensively but turned away blushing quickly when she realised what she did.

Deidara smirked amused, 'Her name's Nasake Takeda yeah. She's just a good friend.'

'Friend?' Ino asked quietly and turned to look at Deidara again. When she looked back to Deidara, she noticed him watching her with his cool blue eyes and he had an amused smile plastered on his face.

'Yeah _friend_. Why, what's it to you yeah?' He asked taking another sip from his water. Ino watched as a small bead of water rolled from his lip and travelled down his throat; she didn't realise she was following the bead of water's trail down Deidara's chest and abdomen until it reached his pants and she shot her gaze upwards embarrassedly, only to find Deidara still drinking and watching her with an amused glint in his eyes. 'Something wrong yeah?' He asked with a smile, putting his drink back down, the whole time still looking at Ino's face; making the girl really nervous.

'No. No, everything's perfect-okay-good-' Ino's face went red with embarrassment and she turned serious to Deidara. 'How did you meet her?'

Deidara's face was starting to develop a more serious expression as the girl grew frustrated, 'I met her in the hospital while she was in labour. Her husband died on a mission so I help her out occasionally yeah.'

Ino's face paled slightly at her rudeness and she put her head down, 'Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.'

'Not a problem, yeah, you didn't upset me.' There was an awkward silence before Deidara spoke again, 'So what are you gonna do now that the shop's destroyed yeah. Have you got any missions?'

Ino snapped her head up at Deidara suddenly and a sad look in her eyes made Deidara know something was serious, 'Well, actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Sasuke attacked the Kage summit yesterday and the five great shinobi villages have decided to join together to create the Allied Shinobi Forces.'

Deidara's eyes narrowed, 'Yeah?'

'Yeah, and…The Kage's have discovered Akatsuki's plot to have control over the world, so the Allied Shinobi Forces are joining together to go to war against them.'

'War?' Deidara growled angrily, 'Akatsuki?' He never really liked the organisation, and he knew they were bad, but he didn't think they would cause a war. '_Sasuke_?' Deidara spat the name out viciously and Ino shuddered.

'Y-You've met him?' Ino stuttered at Deidara's sudden hostility and anger. Sensing the girl's fear, Deidara calmed down but refused to look at her.

'No. But I don't like him _or_ Itachi. I detest the Uchiha Clan and the sharingan.' Deidara replied.

Ino was visibly shocked, 'Really? You both seemed kind of like friends every time I've seen you.'

Deidara's head fell forward suddenly like he was slapped in back of his head and he grimaced. _Have we really?_ 'Well, we're not.' Deidara eventually clarified.

There was silence.

'Deidara?' Ino asked again.

Deidara turned in her direction again and waited patiently for her to continue. 'Deidara, do you think of me as a friend?'

Deidara's eyes suddenly shot open, '…Yeah…' he replied suspiciously.

'Do you ever think about settling down? Having a family.'

Deidara's eyes narrowed, 'No, why?'

'Oh, well it's just that, i'll be going off to war soon and…Nothing, I was just wondering if you'll ever settle down. I will miss that chance if I die in this war.'

'That's the price of being a shinobi; you never know when it's your turn to die yeah. But you can't let that fear stop you from your mission.' Deidara turned to her and their gazes met for a serious moment, 'You might die.' He ground out emotionlessly and Ino's eyes widened at his uncaring tone. Deidara's features softened for the girl and he smirked and turned away, 'But then again, you might live yeah. So stop worrying. I promise that by the time you get back from that little war, you'll have a proper house to crash at yeah.'

Ino smiled and relaxed against the cool wood closer to Deidara. Workers slapped each other on their backs encouragingly when the sun began to set and their day's work ended. Women began pouring out bowls of food for the workers and the small houses started to light up from the rapidly approaching darkness. It was a peaceful sight, but how long would it last? A war was brewing and Konoha was still badly affected by the invasion of Pain and the devastation left behind. Konoha was still so unprepared for a war; yet, as Ino leaned into Deidara's shoulder a sense of comfort and faith crept into her troubled heart that told her no matter what happened, she would be okay.

-The End-

**Thank you all for reading this fanfiction. I really hope you enjoyed it and made it this far. I would just like to say that this chapter is by far the shortest :P**

**AND, i am sorry if i spoiled anything in the series for any of you. Please review and tell me what you think :)**


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